It Might Be You
by Tears
Summary: *Takumi* Takuya and Izumi are opposites with nothing in common. After a fateful incident, they still have nothing in common. But an attraction-- that's new... Chapter 8: It Was.
1. Unconscious by Fate

Author's Note: I wouldn't really say this is my absolute first Digimon fic, because it's not. I have a strange history with the TV show, both the Japanese and English version. In fact-- I was the biggest fan in the world, and then got hypnotized by a certain movie… and never watched the show again. But, I'm back to grace you with my presence! Don't ya just love me?! (people can be seen fleeing) …I see how you stay…

Unnecessary Disclaimer: I don't know why I even bother with this stuff. I mean, you know I don't own Digimon or anything closely affiliated with it. So why must I bother saying it so many times?

MINOR notes: I'm using the Japanese names. Why? Because I can. I'm also mixing in a few of the 02 characters, for reference and maybe some references to other characters. Why? Because I can. Also, because if I just used plain Frontier people, Izumi would have no friends that were girls. Odd, isn't it? So… I think that's about all you have to know-- OH! This is a Takumi fic, btw. It ends up that way, no matter what you seem to think. It's also slightly AU. They're in high school. I don't know where they live, but I used Odaiba because it was the first thing within reach =) And… I made up Takuya's family for the fun of it.

It Might Be You  
Chapter 1  
Unconscious by Fate

_Time  
I've been passing time watching trains go by  
All of my life  
Lying on the sand watching seabirds fly  
Wishing there would be  
Someone waiting home for me  
Something's telling me it might be you  
It's telling me it might be you…_

_© It Might Be You, Stephen Bishop_

He turned the corner to his locker. He sort of wished he didn't though. Surely, he could wait a few more seconds to get to his locker. I mean, classes _only_ started in 2 minutes. He could wait.   
Takuya sighed, as he spotted Koji and Izumi, the effervescent couple, voted "Cutest Couple of the Year" for two years in a row, by his locker. _On his locker. Whichever way you wish to put it. Incredibly unlucky for him, his locker was right beside Koji's locker. That was Izumi and Koji's "make-out spot". His locker, and basically every other locker in school. And you could guess what they were doing; making out. By his locker. __On his locker. Whichever way you wish to put it. _

The bell rang. You just love to think that was their signal to let go of each other and get on with the rest of their lives. But it wasn't. Takuya grew impatient. He despised both of them, for personal reasons. He was never very fond of Izumi, for "reasons" and the fact that she and Koji were a couple, made him direct unnecessary hate energy towards him. Koji was surprisingly joyful about the situation. Head of "the world", he was living in his own luxury bubble. Izumi, bubbly, giddy Izumi, made Takuya pissed off for odd reasons. He was convinced it wasn't the same grade 3 issues he had years ago. Like how she was always there, when she was the last person he wanted to see. And sometimes, whenever she and Koji got into a fight, she'd talk to the nearest person. If it wasn't Hikari, it was Takuya. It was what he called their "shut up and listen while I complain awhile" session. Takuya dreaded it.

"Okay!" he snapped, suddenly, causing them both to be startled. She pulled away from Koji rather quickly, and turned to smile at Takuya as if everything was fine. "In make-out land, can you not hear the bell?" he asked, walking up to his locker. "It means _get off my locker." He said, prying the door open causing Koji to jump back a little. "Speaking of which, why is my locker always…" he trailed off slightly as soon as he spotted the clock hanging by the wall. He was already late. Mr. Sashimi would kill him. "…never mind." He nodded, pulling out his textbooks and shutting his locker. He wiped it off and grinned at them both as he walked away._

"Hmm," Koji mumbled. He diverted his attention to the clock as well. "Did the bell really ring, or was he just lying?"

"You know Takuya," Izumi sighed, straightening her hair with her fingers. "…he lies."

********

"And get this," he said, catching the soccer ball that rolled up to his feet. He ignored momentarily the people calling to him. They seemed so distant. _'Throw the ball, Takuya! Throw it… god, damn it, just throw the damn ball!!'_ Daisuke, beside him, didn't seem to be able to ignore them so easily. He sighed anyway, as Takuya continued, "It's almost like they're doing this to annoy me. I mean, it's been a month or whatever and I'm going crazy. I seriously am."

"And?" Daisuke mumbled, slowly. "So is JP. Throw the ball."

"…oh." Takuya sighed, throwing the ball back to the field. The soccer game resumed. "Do I look like I'm going crazy?"

"No, but it seems like you enjoy talking about Koji and Izumi every five seconds," Daisuke nodded. "What's up with that?" he asked, a grin curling up on his lips.

"…what?" he asked, blankly. Daisuke smirked, devilishly, but Takuya found nothing devilish about it. He knew Daisuke was always thinking strange thoughts about him and every other girl in the school. Daisuke also almost always thought about himself and Izumi's friend Hikari in bed, a lot. It was more like him than not. "You have such a wrong mind. It's like God purposely screwed yours up because he knew you wouldn't be able to use it properly."

"Ah, please," Daisuke shrugged. "Nothing's too wrong, for something that's never right." He grinned. Takuya didn't reply, because he didn't quite get it. He looked back on the field. It was lunch, he was hungry and yet, he never found any time to eat anything. Most of his life was occupied by everyone else's life and soccer. JP was attempting to be a goalie by blocking endless upon endless of Ken's shots. But, unfortunately, JP was dying trying to block them-- or what he called blocking. He looked to his left, and whad'dya know? There were Koji and Izumi, talking. He'd never actually seen them talking before. It was a strange sight. 

"OH! That's gonna hurt in the morning…" he heard JP groan from the field. Daisuke and Takuya looked over to see JP drop, finally, onto the foot-beaten grass. He clutched his groin and curled up like a fetus. 

"Not again," Ken sighed, picking up the ball as it rolled down to his feet. "God, suck it in-- you're fine."

"I'm not this time." JP grumbled. "I think it's a bleeder!"

"…hmm," Ken said, walking towards him. "Sure you're not faking? You always get out of it that way whenever you don't wanna play Daisuke."

"Said who?" JP snapped, suddenly in an okay voice. Ken wasn't buying it. "OH! I think I feel the red substance now!" he slowly got to his feet in a sort of demented way.

"JP's a pain." Daisuke said, shrugging.

"Now that you mention it," Takuya said, getting up. "I'm gonna give Ken a break. One second," he walked onto the field, and after a few minutes of discussion, Ken went back to sit beside Daisuke. Takuya turned back to JP who was still curled up, mercilessly. "Hey! JP! We got a game to play, if you don't mind."

JP looked up, tiredly. "Later, TK."

"Since when was my name TK?" Takuya asked, throwing the ball towards him. It bounced off his leg. "How about you score on me? It'll give you more time to think of another fake injury." He smirked, as JP got up, slowly-- trying to make it seem like he was really hurt-- and nodded. 

"I'm not…" he giggled, nervously as he got to his feet and picked up the ball. "…faking."

"Tch, right." Takuya sighed as he and JP switched places. "Ready?"

"The question is, are _you ready for the JP Thunder Ball?" he asked, very cheesily. "Sure, you caught my other ones, but don't let this one go to your head! It's the ultimate, supreme kick!"_

"It sounds like TUG-- The Ultimate Gay." Takuya replied, cheekily. "Come on, I'm completely ready for your cheesy little wiener kick!"

"I can't believe you still use words like "wiener", man." JP sighed. Takuya shrugged.

Make-out session was over, and Izumi always got bored fast. She walked down the benches and scanned the soccer field. It's almost like where everyone went during lunch. It was more or less "the soccer field" or bust. Koji went back inside to talk to some teacher and she was left relatively alone. Hikari was nowhere to be found. She guessed that Hikari probably went somewhere with TK or something. She spotted Takuya from the benches and grinned. Sure, he looked occupied, blocking several shots from JP, but he wouldn't mind a quick talk session would he? She knew that he probably didn't like her that much, but that's why she chose him for their "talk" sessions. So he could have a basic opinion about it, rather than someone who knew. She wouldn't admit it, but she really did like spending time with him. He was nice, and funny and- "Not Koji… okay." Izumi told herself absently. "Takuya!" she called to him when she got to the bottom-most benches.

"What?" he asked, slowly turning around. He spotted Izumi waving to him. _No more bitching sessions. Not now, not today. Not ever._ He turned back to JP. But it came extremely fast before he could see anything. First he saw a flash of light and then-- BAM!! -- he was unconscious. Or to his extent of what he believed, he died.

"Oh shit," Daisuke exclaimed, when he saw what happened. Takuya lay on the ground completely unconscious.

"I so have bad timing." Izumi gasped, bringing her hand to her mouth. "I should've listened to my horoscope. …so that's what it meant when it said _indoor voices_." When she got to the soccer field, there was already a crowd of people standing around him, just talking.

"So I was right when I told him to not let this one get to his head," JP mumbled. "Guess he didn't listen." He told Ken. Ken shrugged.

"Is he dead?" Daisuke asked, slowly. "NO! Now what am I gonna do without a best friend? He can't just _die like that!"_

"He can't die from a soccer ball, Daisuke," Ken told him, reassuringly. "He's probably knocked out. It's a good possibility he… won't be awake for a few hours. If push comes to shove, he could be in a coma. …he could die in the coma. It's happened before."

"You're great help." Daisuke replied. "Thanks, Ken."

"No problem."

"You guys are pathetic!" Izumi snapped, bending down to grab his arm. "He's unconscious, and you guys are talking like he's dead!" she felt his arm for a pulse, but there was nothing. She shrieked, "Oh my God, he is dead!"

"And you care?"

"Shut up, Daisuke."

"God, you guys are so sad," JP said, grabbing Takuya's arm from Izumi. He felt his pulse again. "…can't really feel much-"

"Damn it, JP, stop feeling up his arm!" Ken said, grabbing Takuya's arm from JP. "And besides, you're doing it wrong."

"No, I'm not." He said, grasping Takuya's arm again.

"Can you guys not pull his friggin' arm out of his friggin' socket, okay?" Daisuke snapped. "He's not dead. He does have a pulse, right?"

"Yeah, he's just unconscious, I guess." Ken shrugged, dropping his arm.

"Oh no…" Izumi muttered, picking up his limp arm and dropping it again. "I feel so bad about everything."

"You shouldn't feel bad, he's not dead." Daisuke told her.

"Doesn't he need something like-- oh, I dunno-- _medical attention?" JP asked, absently. "Ken?" he turned on him._

"It's not like I know everything," Ken replied, crossing his arms and getting up. "I'm guessing we should probably take him to the hospital room upstairs."

******

"You think he'll ever wake up?" he heard someone whisper fervently. Whatever the nurse said was too quiet for his tired ears to pick up. He reluctantly opened his eyes to see both the nurse and Izumi looking at him and shaking their heads. He shifted his eyes comfortably around the room to get used to his surroundings. It wasn't long until he realized he was in the hospital room in the school.

"Ah!" he gasped, sitting up instantly. He looked around in a bizarre panic. No one seemed to mind that he was overreacting. The nurse told Izumi it was common for those who awaken from unconsciousness. He looked over at the nurse, "What happened to me? …and what about the game?" he asked, trying to get up.

"Lie down, the nurse said you shouldn't get up." Izumi said, pushing him back down before he could go anywhere. "It's supposed to be bad for your head."

"You do need to rest here awhile longer." The nurse nodded, as her eyes switched back and forth between Izumi and Takuya. She cleared her throat, "I normally wouldn't let you both stay in the same room… with a bed… circumstances being what they are-"

"Hey, I am _not_ gonna sleep with her okay?" Takuya said, interrupting her. Both of them looked at him in a shocked manner. Though, from the looks in their eyes, they agreed upon the reason being that 'it was the blow to the head'. 

"…your parents should be here soon." The nurse told him.

"My parents?" he asked, abruptly. "Who the hell called them?"

"Well, it's mandatory we notify all the parents of the kids that end up in the hospital or sick rooms, just so they are aware of the situation with their child." She smiled, warmly. "Don't worry, we have a timed visiting limit. But in your case, you will be able to go home with them. You should be fine."

"…what time is it?" Takuya asked, slowly. 

"It's just past 3. Why do you ask?" she replied.

"I've been dead for 2 hours?" he mumbled. "God… where's Daisuke and Ken… and JP?"

"My best bet is that they went home." She shrugged. Takuya's eyes grew wide. His friends just left after he got brutally beat with a soccer ball? What was wrong with them? "Don't get that idea." She added, noticing Takuya's shocked expression. "They'd been here during the whole day. But they were asked to leave. You'll probably see them tomorrow." She said, reassuringly before she left.

There was an odd silence in the room afterwards. Takuya slowly turned to Izumi who was sitting comfortably in the chair beside his bed. She didn't seem to act like she minded much. He wondered why she hadn't left yet. His best bet was that she needed someone to complain to-- _Guess what, Koji's breaking up with me and my mom doesn't like me… It was either that, or something much more less interesting._

"So…" Izumi began, slowly. "I'm guessing you're okay."

"I'm guessing I am too." He answered. "If you don't mind… how come you didn't go home?" he asked, turning back to look at her.

"I told Koji I had something important to do after school." Izumi nodded. "…and I also told the receptionist that I was your cousin. She only lets family members stay longer than 15 minutes if they come before school ends." She looked over at him. "No big deal, right?"

"Sure." He said, slowly getting up. His head ached severely like he'd just been whacked with something extremely hard. The soccer ball, of course. But it was like, since he was unconscious when it happened, all of a sudden now he felt the extreme pain of being hit in the head with the "JP Thunder Ball". Why couldn't the pain go away when he wasn't current? He sighed, "It sounds more like you lied to watch me sleep or something."

"When you put it that way, you make it seem irrelevant." 

"Well, it is." He answered. "My parents would never do that for me. They've been too occupied with my older brother and my younger sister. He's in college, she's in 9th grade. They gave her carrot cake when she got to 9th grade-- my mom's a nutritionist--  and they gave her $500. When my brother got to college, they paid his tuition and gave him more carrot cake. When I got to grade 9… they paid $20 for my sister's trip to that acting place and around $300 for my brother's books and supplies. They never gave me carrot cake." He added, sourly. "Being a middle kid sucks, just because."

"Do you like carrot cake?"

"Hell no." Takuya answered. "Just the thought of having it made them feel superior. I wanted to feel superior too. Never got the chance to. Plus, my mom's always feeding me all this health food because she says I don't eat enough. She says, _Look at Tayumi, she's growing up just great! And Takeyo looks as healthy as ever. And you look like a twig. Eat something, Takuya."_

"Your mom sounds nice." Izumi told him. "My parents taught me how to cook, and then they left me alone."

Takuya shrugged, briefly, and then it was pure silence. Neither one of them spoke. She tapped on the arm of the chair and his eyes darted between the back wall and the window. "Got a minute?" Izumi spoke up, quietly. 

"Don't I always?" he asked, reluctantly and sarcastically. She smiled anyway.

"Me and Koji never talk anymore." She began, slowly. "I mean, we talk but never about anything interesting or special. It always comes back to… well, you know."

"Making-out on _my locker?" he added._

"No, the bedroom."

Takuya said nothing. His eyes diverted back to the wall, and then to her in a concentration sort of way. "I don't think this is the type of stuff I said was in my contract."

"Who cares…" she mumbled. "Please? Just listen, and if you want, you don't have to say anything."

"Fine."

"Well, and then I told him, _Forget it, if that's all you ever think about. That was the last thing I told him actually. There was much more… um, swearing and yelling involved, but to conclude it, I told him I didn't wanna go home with him and I didn't want him to drop me off at home… I got so angry."_

"When was that?"

"…today."

"Is that why you're still here?" Takuya asked, slowly. "…wait." He gasped. "You don't think I can drop you off, do you?"

"No, no, no, that's not it."

"My parents won't let me drive. My dad said I'm too young. I told him, I already got my license. He said… he'll ask the police. I told him, _Dad, you were there when I got it_. He laughed and said, _Go eat something, Takuya." He muttered. "…Koji seems like a bastard if you ask me."_

"You just don't like him." Izumi smiled. "If you got to know him, you'd think he was swee- …he was nice, I meant. And he really is." She nodded. "Really."

"Yeah, well, I don't think you should let it get to you." Takuya shrugged. "He'll come running back. They always do…" he added, in a renegade type way. Izumi smiled.

"I love talking to you." She grinned.

"I like talking to me, too. Only when no one's around. Because… well, you know what people think when you talk to yourself." He shrugged. 

"My God, where is he?" they heard a panicked voice from outside. Takuya recognized it as his mom, Reiko. She was always overreacting. Mostly when people don't get the right nutrition. The door creaked open, and Reiko stood in the doorway with Takuya's younger sister, Tayumi behind her. Reiko looked like she was on the brink of tears. It scared him. "Oh, Takuya… are you okay?" she asked, rushing up to him. She sat on the bed beside him, and began rummaging through her purse.

"I'm fine, I guess." Takuya answered. _Thanks for caring._

"I knew it! I knew I should've given you packed lunches!" she exclaimed, bringing out a Tupperware container and chopsticks from her purse. It was filled to the lid with rice and chicken. "Eat." She said, simply. 

"But mom-"

"Shush. Eat." She told him again. "I know the reason you fell unconscious isn't because of that lame, cheap-ass soccer ball thing they told me! It's because my poor little baby isn't getting enough nutrition!"

"…God…" he mumbled, as Izumi giggled.

"Takuya, where's Daisuke?" Tayumi asked.

"Oh, please," Reiko reared on Tayumi quickly. "Your brother is going crazy, and the only reason you came was to get a glimpse of his best friend!"

"Where's dad?" Takuya asked, prying open the lid of the container. 

"He went to see your brother in the math championships." Reiko said, smiling at herself. Takuya sighed.

"How come I don't get carrot cake?" Takuya asked, stuffing his mouth with rice. "I don't like this kind of chicken either-"

"Stop complaining." Reiko nodded. "You should be happy I'm feeding you."

"Yeah, I should." He told himself, quietly. He dropped the bowl and the chopsticks. As soon as he did, his mom fished out a granola bar and handed it to him. He almost cried.

"Oh, and who are you?" Reiko asked, turning to Izumi. She seemed to have been fine being excluded. Tayumi finally noticed her too. She smiled, "I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Reiko Kanbara, Takuya's mom. And this is his sister Tayumi. You've probably seen her around the school-- did you tell you that they're related?" she asked.

"…my name's Izumi Orimoto." She answered. 

"Do you know where Daisuke lives?" Tayumi asked, quietly. "Takuya won't tell me."

"Mom, tell Tayumi to stop stalking my best friend. He doesn't like her." Takuya said, dropping the granola bar. Reiko glared at him, and he picked it up reluctantly.

"Takuya, are you feeling better yet?" Reiko asked him sweetly. 

"Sort of."

"Of course you aren't-- you haven't eaten the bar yet!" 

He sighed, and stuffed half of it in his mouth. His mother beamed. "You're ready to go home now. I roasted more chicken, and I have fish, bread buns, more rice and selected vegetables. Everything from the four food groups. Can you name them all?"

He dropped his head forward on the fluffy blankets and didn't speak.

"Do you need a lift too, dear?" Reiko asked Izumi.

"No, it's okay. I don't live that far from here, so I'll just walk." She nodded. She spotted Takuya still forcing himself to finish off the rest of the granola bar. "Oh, but I'll go with him, if he's up to it." Takuya sat up, tiredly. He looked at her with a dead sort of look.

"…well, I suppose so." Reiko answered.

"Can I go with them?" Tayumi asked. "Please, mom, can I? They might be going to Daisuke's house."

"God, Tayumi, find a boyfriend of your age!" Reiko told her, standing up. "You two go on ahead." She smiled, handing Takuya the rest of the food. "It better be eaten." She told him, quietly, before she and Tayumi left.

Izumi stood up and headed towards the door too. She turned back to Takuya, "You owe me."

"Do I have to?" Takuya asked. 

"You can always just listen to me." Izumi smiled. "I never told you about Koji's ex-girlfriend." She said, with a hint of jealousy in her voice. Takuya got up slowly, taking the container. After picking out one of the chicken pieces, he threw the whole thing in the garbage beside the bed. 

"This is gonna be a long trip."

******

That's the end of part 1!! Cool, huh? Well, I like it. And yes, I realize Takuya only has a lil brother and no older brother or whatever, but for the purpose of the fic, I switched it up. Hope you didn't mind. Please review if you liked it =D


	2. A Walk to Remember

Author's Note: I wouldn't really say this is my absolute first Digimon fic, because it's not. I have a strange history with the TV show, both the Japanese and English version. In fact-- I was the biggest fan in the world, and then got hypnotized by a certain movie… and never watched the show again. But, I'm back to grace you with my presence! Don't ya just love me?! (people can be seen fleeing) …I see how you stay…

Unnecessary Disclaimer: I don't know why I even bother with this stuff. I mean, you know I don't own Digimon or anything closely affiliated with it. So why must I bother saying it so many times?

MINOR notes: I'm using the Japanese names. Why? Because I can. I'm also mixing in a few of the 02 characters, for reference and maybe some references to other characters. Why? Because I can. Also, because if I just used plain Frontier people, Izumi would have no friends that were girls. Odd, isn't it? So… I think that's about all you have to know-- OH! This is a Takumi fic, btw. It ends up that way, no matter what you seem to think. It's also slightly AU. They're in high school. I don't know where they live, but I used Odaiba because it was the first thing within reach =) And… I made up Takuya's family for the fun of it.

It Might Be You  
Chapter 2  
A Walk to Remember

Maybe this whole walking home thing with Izumi wasn't such a good idea. She'd been rambling endlessly about nothing, or so it seemed. Takuya was slowly getting hungry. _Should've taken the granola bar._ Izumi sighed and continued rambling, "…I _so_ can't stand that Ruki Makino! I don't know what she wants with _my_ Koji. She's such a... god, I just hate her. Last week, me and Koji were talking and she comes up out of nowhere and asks to talk to him in private. I should've said no, I feel so bad… but he never did come back. They left for the whole lunch hour and it was just me and Hikari alone. Oh, I haven't called Kari yet, she's probably gonna wonder where I am…" she sighed, tiresomely. "Do you mind?" she asked, turning to look at Takuya.

He looked back at her blankly. He hadn't been paying any attention at all. "…what?" he mumbled.

"Oh, sure," she smiled, slightly to herself. She flipped out her cell phone and began to dial numbers. She brought the phone to her ear and waited. "…hi Tai. Is Kari there? …I don't care, where is she? …why aren't you gone yet, by the way? …whatever. Where did you say she went? …somewhere with Takeru? …whatever you say. Tell her I called, and not to call back." She smiled. "See you later." She clicked off her phone and turned back to Takuya. "…you didn't mind, did you?"

"…what?"

"Good," Izumi beamed, shoving her cell phone halfway down her purse. "…so." She sighed. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay." He answered, uneasily. "You done talking about boyfriends and things I don't care about?" he asked, with a slight edge.

"You were ignoring me, weren't you?" Izumi asked, testily, her voice slowly rising. "You should've told me if you didn't wanna listen-"

"Well, Izumi, I never really wanna listen…" he muttered. _Crap. I shouldn't have said that. He looked back at her, if only for a second. She was turning a bright red. "Don't get so worked up over it."_

"Hmph," she huffed, turning away from him. "Takuya Kanbara, you're so inconsiderate."

"You're one more person who thinks so," he smirked, childishly, stuffing his hands in his pockets and looking down at the ground as he walked. Izumi flashed him a concerned look, but didn't want to show it. She didn't want to show that she actually cared about his feelings. After all, he didn't seem to care about hers. 

Neither one of them spoke as they passed the convenience store by Kotae Road for the fifth time. Takuya noticed, but only looked back as they passed it. "What the hell?" he muttered, turning to look at her. "Do you not know where you live? That's the fifth time we passed that store."

"I figured we'd take a detour." She told him. "I thought it would be a great opportunity for us to talk more."

"Why would you want that?" he asked, in a confused state.

"Well," she began. "We only talk whenever I need someone to… um, _talk_ to."

"I'd call it complain. Go on."

She tried to ignore him, as she continued. "I don't think we're on… friend terms."

"What ever gave you that idea?" Takuya asked, with a fake-concerned expression. Izumi glared at him, and he merely just smiled.

"Well, I heard you talking to Daisuke and Ken telling them how much you think I'm a _whiner_ and all I ever do is _whine about Koji and the whole friggin' world!" she snapped. "What makes you think I had no reason to believe that?"_

"You did have a reason to believe that, I guess," Takuya told her. "It wasn't supposed to be offensive… well, it was, I'm lying."

"Is that all you can't stand about me?" Izumi asked, crossing her arms and stopping dead in her tracks. Takuya stopped too, and sighed tiredly. 

"…well-"

"There's more?!" she snapped, rather loudly. If not for the cars, you could hear it echoing around the block. Takuya covered his ears and walked over to lean by the wall of the same convenience store. "Takuya…" she walked over to him. "…I never knew you were so cruel. I always thought you were sincere."

"That depends." He told her. She glared at him with strangely hungry eyes. _Wait a second… that's not right._ He suddenly calmed down. _Her eyes aren't supposed to be… wait… _"…really."

"On what, exactly?" she asked, testily.

"God, Izumi, I wanna go home. It's getting dark, and it's getting cold."

"And I'm waiting." She replied. Takuya flashed her an incredibly pissed off look, but said nothing. "I wanna know what else you can't stand about me. I wanna know why you hate me."

"I don't hate you." Takuya sighed. "I just get incredibly pissed off…" she arched her eyebrow at him in a disbelieving manner. "…a lot. Hey, just because you're the only "supposed" person who's enduring "supposed" torture in your life, that doesn't mean you're the only person…"

"Hmph," she huffed again, crossing her arms, and looking away from him. She had to admit, he was a really good liar. She almost believed everything he said. …how could she not? His face seemed so innocent, but yet in a way… extremely jaded. She turned her attention to him, directly. She scanned all of his features… and thought. Izumi didn't like being disliked. She thought it was a bit odd, and it wasn't really a feeling she liked. _Could it be… she thought._

"What?" Takuya asked, suddenly, breaking her from her train of thought.

"What?"

"…what?"

"What?"

"What?"

"…what?"

"What the hell—why are you looking at me like that?" he asked, fervently. She didn't notice, but she was staring directly at him while she was thinking. It was only then she noticed… what beautiful eyes he—no. She was with Koji. She loved Koji. Takuya might've had beautiful eyes, but Koji had a beautiful… um, everything else. So, she decided not to expand on it anymore than needed. 

"Oh," her eyes broke free from his and landed on the ground. The ground wouldn't mind her looking at it. "I've come to a minor conclusion of why you might dislike me."

"I can't believe you even care." He shrugged. "If someone disliked me, I would instantly leave them alone."

"Shut up." She said, stately. Takuya cocked an eyebrow at her but said nothing. Thunder reigned in the background, as storm clouds hovered over the sky. Takuya sighed and shook his head. "Remember the Bat-2-C?" she asked, slowly, smiling.

"…what?" Takuya said, in a low voice. It almost sounded evil. He glared at her, "What do you know about the Bat-2-C?"

"The Bat-2-C…" she said, smiling. "In grade 3, we all got to make things out of clay. I made this really nice slipper that actually fit me… and you made the Bat-2-C. It was a dinosaur, remember?"

"I remember." Takuya grunted. "Don't remind me." Rain began to pour, slowly but surely. Izumi walked over to where Takuya was against the wall, where there was a ledge over their heads. He still didn't turn to face her.

"I was looking at it." Izumi spoke up, ignoring the rain. "Picked it up. Put it back down. It broke the lower left leg, so I sorta just left it alone. But you found out anyway, and got really mad at me." She almost laughed at the thought of it. "…oh, and then it all broke." Her smile faded, to a confused look. "And of course, considering I was the last one to touch it, you blamed me for everything."

"JP broke it." Takuya grumbled. "He was pissed off that you liked my Bat-2-C better than his screwed up container for whiteout." He shook his head. "I mean, come on. What idiot would use their free time to make a container for whiteout—it comes in a container already-"

"Wait a second." Izumi interrupted. "That _has to be the reason why you hate me! I mean, there is no other reason."_

"Well, like I said, I don't hate you." Takuya replied. Izumi waited for him to expand on it, but he didn't. They stood in silence for quite awhile, not moving, not speaking. Takuya still wasn't facing Izumi, and Izumi still gazed at the ground. The rain poured mercilessly. For once, however, it finally crossed Takuya's mind how he was gonna get home in the rain. _Walk, you idiot. He told himself. He soon dropped the subject._

"How am I gonna get home in the rain?" Izumi asked herself aloud.

"Walk." Takuya told her, plainly.

Izumi turned to face him. "But it's raining. And I just got my hair done. And my clothes are gonna be all wet."

"…so don't walk, then."

"Takuya…"

"Well, what do you want me to say?" he shot back. "I sorta don't have a car. Maybe you could call your boyfriend or whatever to pick you up."

"…we got into a fight, re-" she stopped herself, and sighed. "…of course you don't remember. You haven't been listening to me." She resumed staring back at the ground. "So," she began, slowly. "…you're lucky your goggles didn't crack. You got hit pretty bad today. Are you sure you're okay?"

"…I'm fine." He answered, equally as slow. Izumi nodded, content with the answer. "…you never really did tell me." She turned to look at him, puzzled. "Well, you never did tell me why you decided to stay with me after school." He swung his head over to look at her. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," she answered, smiling. "I just thought I'd do something nice for you. After… all the times I wished you'd listened to me." She sighed, her smile fading. "I don't understand why you hate me."

"God," he sighed, walking away from the wall briskly. It was pouring outside, and he was a bit skeptical about walking. He was never really very fond of the rain after all. 

"Wait, please don't leave, I promise I'll shut up and we can talk about you if you want." She pleaded, pulling him back to the wall. He seemed incredibly startled by that.

"You wouldn't wanna talk about me." Takuya said, wriggling free of her grasp. "I'm very boring."

"You and your best friends are stars of the soccer team. You can't be that boring."

"You're right," he nodded, sarcastically. "Me and my best friends are stars of the soccer team. That's about all anyone would be interested in."

"Takuya…"

"April 3, I got knocked out by the JP Wiener Ball." He told her. "You can add that to my autobiography."

"Oh come on," she smiled. "What about your family?"

"My parents are crazy. My brother's some math and literature kid who knows everything. My sister's training to be shipped off to tennis camp." He said. "My grandma went back to Oita. When we brought her down here, she went mad because she thought she was in Korea… she has a thing with the Koreans… she's also very crazy."

"Hmm, interesting."

"…you're lying."

"Like you once were." She told him, nonchalantly. Takuya looked at her with a look of thoughtfulness. Izumi didn't notice.

"I didn't know that whole thing really meant anything to you." He told her, in a quieter voice. "With the whole… shut up and listen thing."

"Well, it did," she told him. "You might not care when people listen to you or not, I wouldn't know. It sounds like being a middle child is pretty annoying."

"Very."

"But I prefer people to listen to me." She sighed. "It makes me feel like someone cares, other than myself."

"I don't want anyone to care, that's my problem," Takuya muttered. "I can talk to myself… and I still won't care." He shrugged. "That's just how I am."

"Well, couldn't you try to listen to people when they talk to you?" Izumi asked. "The only reason you're doing this to yourself is because you think no one cares about you, or what you think. So, you tend to not care about what other people think. Am I right?"

Takuya didn't answer. He kept his arms crossed and his eyes far away from Izumi. 

"Answer me!" she shrieked.

"Fine, okay," he snapped back. "You probably are right. Maybe I'm used to not being listened to, and I'm okay with it. That's why I usually don't complain. I'm just used to… not listening."

"Well, stop it." She sneered.

"…what the hell?"

"I'm serious." She nodded. "You're acting all stuck-up because you think that you have to be the one people ignore. You're acting like you're invisible, and you act like you like it. But I know you don't." she stood in front of him and grabbed his face. His skin was damp with the misty rain spray around them. He looked at her oddly but said nothing. "You're like a poor little kid, praying for attention silently. Hopefully, someone would pay attention to you, but you're too afraid to ask because you think they don't care about you…" she trailed off slightly, staring into his eyes, and let go of his face slowly.

Utter silence.

None of them spoke. It was only the rain, washing away stones from the roads and sidewalk, which could be heard.

"…how'd you know all that?" he asked, slowly.

Izumi smiled, "Psychology classes, I guess." She blushed slightly, a light shade of pink, and went back to leaning against the wall. The rain was coming down harder then. "You owe me an apology. I'd like one. It'd make me feel better."

"For what?" Takuya asked, edgily. 

"For not listening to me when I asked you." Izumi told him. 

"If anything, you owe me an apology."

"And for what?" Izumi snapped, also quite edgily. As soon as she said that, thunder sounded throughout the sky. _Coincidence, Takuya thought. _

"For hitting on me."

"What the hell?" Izumi shrieked, in a shocked and yet very nervous state. Takuya said nothing. "Oh, so is that what you thought I was doing?"

"It was more than obvious," Takuya told her. "Let's put it this way… no one has ever touched my face before." He rubbed on his cheeks oddly. "It's an odd feeling."

"Ah… hmph," Izumi scoffed, crossing her arms again. "Well, I'm ready to leave."

"I was ready to leave a long time ago." Takuya said. "Did you find out why I supposedly hate you?"

"No, but I will." Izumi mumbled. "I don't like being disliked. And besides, I never did anything to you, so I don't know why you'd hate me…" she sighed.

"Simply being that I don't," Takuya shrugged, getting away from the brick wall. It was beginning to feel cold against his back as the rain continued to poor. Just as he was about to leave, something in his pocket beeped a few times. He fished out his cell phone and clicked it on. "Hey," he said, vaguely. 

"Are you okay, Takuya? You missed dinner…" he recognized Reiko's voice from the instability she had when she mentioned the thought of missing dinner. 

Takuya groaned, tiredly, "I'm fine."

"Your dad thought you'd passed out. He's back with Takeyo." Reiko sighed, dreamily. "Your older brother won the math championships. Oh, Takuya, why can't you be good in math? Soccer is just so dange-"

He clicked his phone off. The last thing he needed was a "be like Takeyo" lecture. He hadn't seen his brother for a year, so even if he did, he wouldn't know how he looked like. Probably like his mom.

"Who was that?" Izumi's voice was distant. He forgot she was there. He turned to face her. She had a drained look.

"My mom, complaining why I can't be like elder brother Takeyo…" he grumbled. "You would think they cared about where I was."

"I care." Izumi nodded. Takuya looked at her oddly, but didn't speak. "How about it? When the whole world doesn't seem to give a crap about either one of us, then we have to give a crap about each other."

"…short on friends, huh?"

"Shut up."

"Tch, fine."

"I didn't say we were gonna be friends. You don't have to be friends to care about someone else."

"Right," Takuya shrugged. "You can either be friends or _really, really good friends, if you get what I mean." He smirked, evilly. "And we're none of those."_

"You can also be lonely." Izumi said, knowledgeably. "The loved don't always have everything they want."

"…why are you so angst-filled all of a sudden? Stop it, it's scaring me."

"I am not angst-filled." Izumi scoffed. "See, if you bothered to listen to me, you'd know that my life isn't all red roses and blue violets. I have some odd suspicion that my boyfriend is cheating on me with Ruki Makino, his ex." She sighed, walking away from the wall. "…hmph. I think we should've left a long time ago." She muttered, walking out of the shelter of the canopy and down the sidewalk.

"…wait a second," Takuya said, following her down the street. Izumi stopped dead in her tracks, as if waiting. She said nothing. "Walk with me," he told her, briefly. "So you're convinced this _guy is seeing his ex-girlfriend?"_

"…y-yeah." Izumi mumbled, as they both headed down the street. If it weren't for the rain, Takuya would've seen the endless tears streaming down her face.

"And making-out on _my locker isn't helping the situation," he told her._

"Not really," she answered, lowly. "I think our relationship is a complete lie. I don't think what we have is real anymore. I feel like…" _Wait a second._

"…like?" he asked, semi-anxiously. He looked over at her. She didn't really look like she was able to answer any time soon. "…like?" he asked again.

"Takuya," she began, slowly, turning to look at him. She pulled on his arm so he would stop walking. He looked at her strangely, once again thinking she lost her nerve. She was smiling. "Thank you for listening to me." She leaned closer to him briefly to kiss him. It was awkward. 15 minutes ago, they were arguing over the Bat-2-C, and now, she kissed him. She too wondered what was wrong with herself, and what possessed her to do so. But it was no time to think. 

"…hey!" they broke apart instantly. Instead of Koji peering over at them from a nearby car, they saw a man with deep brown hair, like Takuya's, waving at them. Something about him scared Takuya. He had the same annoying smile as his mom did… whenever Takuya refused to eat something. "Takuya! …it's me—_your brother_!"

"…oh." He said, in a shocked state. _Oh yeah, my brother… how much did he see? His eyes shifted around nervously. "Oh! I remember you." He said, walking over to the car, with Izumi close behind him. "You are here to give us a lift home, right?"_

"…well, no-"

"My god, my family is so wrong." He muttered.

"So Takuya, who's your friend?" Takeyo asked, referring to Izumi. She was brushing wet strands of hair out of her face. He winked at her; she said nothing.

"Oh yeah, that's Izumi." He nodded. Takeyo flashed him an odd look. "We were just talking."

"Sure." He shrugged, sarcastically. "Get in—about what?"

"…the Bat-2-C."

******

"Oh Takuya!" Reiko grabbed him as soon as he got home. "Are you okay? Did you finish the granola bar? Where's the Tupperware?" her voice grew menacing.

"Enough, Reiko," Takuya's dad, Tenji began prying him away from her. "Ah, son, I heard about the incident at school with the baseball."

"Soccer ball, actually."

"Lies! He hasn't eaten all day, Tenji." Reiko told him.

"Takuya, is this true?" Tenji asked, in a fake tone of concern. "You know how angry your mother gets-"

"God-" Takuya sighed. "I should've just stayed outside."

"Did you guys see Daisuke?" Tayumi asked, from the living room as she continued to flip channels. She put down the remote and looked over at him. 

"He was making-out with a girl." Takeyo spoke up. "I think she was… blonde."

"Oh, it must be that same girl from the hospital room." Reiko grinned. "You never told me you were in a relationship with anyone."

"You and Izumi are going out?" Tayumi asked, shocked. "When did she break up with Koji?"

"Koji? Who's Koji?"

"I'm going to bed." Takuya said, slipping away from everyone. But for once they heard him.

"You never ate anything Takuya." Reiko said, testily. "Are you sure you don't want any chicken? Rice? Fish? Steamed carrots? Corn? Cookies, even? I don't want you to be unhealthy. Look—Takeyo and Tayumi finished their dinner. Look how healthy and strong they look. They don't pass out from a lack of nutrition."

"It was a baseball, Reiko."

_Soccer ball, dad. Soccer ball._ He sighed, and slipped away into his room anyway. He took off his hat and goggles and rested them on his bedpost. He was searching around for a change of clothing, but surprisingly couldn't find anything that belonged to him. "Mom," he popped his head out of his room. "Where's my… everything?" he asked, noticing his red covers were gone.

"Oh, we forgot to tell you." Reiko smiled. "While Takeyo's here, he'll be taking your room and you'll be in with Tayumi."

"Mom!" Tayumi gasped.

"God, no," Takuya sighed.

"Well, it was either Tayumi or the sofa." Tenji nodded.

***

"Are you sure, son?" Tenji asked, as Takuya unfolded his blazing red comforter on the sofa and dropped down, his head completely lost in his pillow. "It gets cold-"

"And you haven't eaten." Reiko reminded him. "Feel free to have a midnight snack."

"I'm fine," he mumbled. "Good night." He closed his eyes and tried to sleep, but noticed the moonlit silhouettes still standing by the hallway. He looked up to see a concerned Reiko and Tenji, and Takeyo and Tayumi peering over their shoulders. "…go away!" he snapped.

"Good night, then," Tenji nodded, as he and the family went off to bed.

Takuya tried not to think. Whenever he thought, it always went back to Izumi, the rain, the- He had to get his mind off it somehow. It wasn't helping to sleep it off. He closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind… but it came back.

_…_

_"Takuya, I'm sorry," Izumi said, on the brink of tears. She couldn't hold them in anymore. So to show as much appreciation as possible, she began to cry. "I didn't mean to break it."_

_"It's okay," Takuya mumbled, still sitting beside the pile of rubble that was The Bat-2-C. "I'll just make another one. It wasn't that special anyway."_

_Izumi sniffed uncontrollably. Daisuke walked over to give her a hug, but she started to cry even more. "Geez. Girls." He shook his head as Izumi rushed away. "Such crybabies. Right?" he looked down at Takuya. "Right?" Daisuke asked again, as he spotted tears roll down Takuya's face. "…whoa."_

_"…I loved… the Bat-2-C!!" he cried, rolling around on the floor in a panic. "I want it back!"_

_"Tch," he heard JP snicker to one of his only friends at the time. "Now Izumi will only love my whiteout container! She'll never love the Bat-2-C again!"_

_"…what?" Takuya stopped crying to hear JP momentarily. He got up and glared at him. JP backed down. JP might've been bigger than the other kids, but he was a complete wimp. "What did you say?"_

_"…nothing." JP said before rushing out of the classroom._

_…_

"Whoa-" Takuya sat up quickly and looked around. _I dreamt of JP… what the hell is wrong with me? He lay back down slowly and pulled the covers over his head. "…JP's a pain."_

*******

That's the end of chapter 2!! Review if you liked it, and thanks to everyone who reviewed so far =D See you soon.

- Tears  
sunshinie@moonshinehollow.com 


	3. Aftermath Syndrome

Author's Note: I wouldn't really say this is my absolute first Digimon fic, because it's not. I have a strange history with the TV show, both the Japanese and English version. In fact-- I was the biggest fan in the world, and then got hypnotized by a certain movie… and never watched the show again. But, I'm back to grace you with my presence! Don't ya just love me?! (people can be seen fleeing) …I see how you stay…

Unnecessary Disclaimer: I don't know why I even bother with this stuff. I mean, you know I don't own Digimon or anything closely affiliated with it. So why must I bother saying it so many times?

MINOR notes: I'm using the Japanese names. Why? Because I can. I'm also mixing in a few of the 02 characters, for reference and maybe some references to other characters. Why? Because I can. Also, because if I just used plain Frontier people, Izumi would have no friends that were girls. Odd, isn't it? So… I think that's about all you have to know-- OH! This is a Takumi fic, btw. It ends up that way, no matter what you seem to think. It's also slightly AU. They're in high school. I don't know where they live, but I used Odaiba because it was the first thing within reach =) And… I made up Takuya's family for the fun of it.

It Might Be You  
Chapter 3  
Aftermath Syndrome

Takuya woke up on the lumpish sofa. He wished he'd stayed in with Tayumi. She woke up and began fluttering around the house happily. She walked up to him and grinned, "Hello Takuya."

"Ugh," he groaned, turning over and trying to shut his eyes. But his mother's morning ritual had already begun. She'd walk around the house singing "Wake up dearest children" in Japanese. She couldn't sing, so it wasn't necessarily something anyone would wanna hear. He got up tiredly and folded up his blazing red comforter and bundled up his pillows, heading back to his room. He pushed the door open where Takeyo was sitting on his bed reading "The Lexicon of Literature and Mathematics". It was almost like he had nothing better to do with his spare time. "Hey," Takuya said, dropping his beddings beside Takeyo. He looked up at him and grinned.

"How goes it?" Takeyo asked, putting down the book. "I just went through the greatest literature exercise yet!" he said, nodding.

"I just woke up." Takuya told him, uninterested. He grabbed his towel off the bedpost, and a change of clothing which he found in the closet -_-;;. "I'll be right back."

"Sure thing," he replied, opening the book again.

***

"Takuya, you're gonna be late for breakfast!" Reiko called into his room. The rest of the family was seated at the kitchen table with a plate full of bacon and eggs in front of them. 

"Mom…" he said, sticking his head out of his room. "Screw breakfast-- I'm gonna be late for school." He told her, noticing there was only 2 minutes left until the bell would ring. She scowled. "…and besides Mom, I'm not hungry-"

"Takuya, I'm not letting you leave until you eat something." She said, walking over to lock the front door and chain it. "No one is leaving unless Takuya eats."

Everyone instantly turned on him and waited for him to get to the table. Tayumi-- impatiently. She always left with Takuya, or around a minute after him, so she could catch bare glimpses of Daisuke. Takeyo-- ever so patiently. He finished his studying so he wasn't in that much of a hurry. Tenji was always late for work, so he wasn't that hectic. He did keep checking his watch, though. Reiko was a nutritionist, so feeding Takuya and her family was like her job. She wasn't in a hurry either. Takuya's eyebrow flickered as he stared at his anticipating family. He sighed. _This is not my day either. Is it ever?_

***

"Where were you for half the day exactly?" Daisuke asked, as Takuya approached him and Ken by the benches. JP was off practicing the JP Thunder Ball with a net on the field. He didn't notice Takuya walk in. "You missed history… and science. Tch, why're you always so lucky?"

"Please, it's not as easy as it seems," he muttered, dropping down on the benches, clutching his stomach. "I'm so not used to eating breakfast."

"You're feeling better though, right?" Ken asked. "After… the… head thing."

"Yeah. The finals are in 3 or something days, right?" he asked, as Ken merely nodded.

"Everyone's talking about it, man," Daisuke told him. "You got knocked straight out, and fell unconscious too… Coach said we might not be able to play in the finals, unless you're okay. … it looked pretty painful." Takuya sighed and dropped his head.

***

He twisted his combination lock and pulled it open. It locked again. He grumbled, trying the combination again. _What the hell? I wish I stayed home today._ He barely got it open. He continued to tug at it. After minutes, he gave up and began to spell the combination again, slowly and making sure he got it.

"What's the combination?" he turned to look at Izumi, leaning against the locker beside him. She had her arms crossed across her chest.

"And you'd care because?" he asked, with irritation. He'd been through enough that day. A boy in his class asked him if he saw fairies when he collapsed, and if it really was because of a lack of nutrition. He said some lady told him that, and he told the rest of the school, and they told… the rest of the world.

"Because," Izumi replied. "That's Koji's locker. Yours is… this one." She said, getting off the locker she was leaning on to point to locker 493. Takuya could've screamed. He unhanded Koji's lock, and wiped his hands on his pants, quickly. He walked over to his locker. _13… 40… 54. he pulled it open. It actually opened this time. He ignored her smiles. "Got a minute?" she asked, slowly._

"No, I don't. I'm extremely pissed off right now, and you're the last person I wanna talk to." He said, picking out one of his textbooks and kicking his soccer ball back in before it fell out. "I think I'm going crazy."

"I think you need to calm down," Izumi said, soothingly. "You're completely stressed out right now, I can tell."

"Can you stop entering my head and telling me all this psycho stuff?" he asked, testily, shutting his locker. "I don't wanna talk about it, just leave me alone."

"Did you… tell anyone about yesterday?" she asked, completely ignoring what he said. He instantly turned on her. For a second, she thought his eyes were bloodshot. But, they weren't. "The kiss in the rain and everything... kisses in the rain are very romantic, I think." She gushed to herself.

"Like anyone would care," he said, quaintly. "And Koji would only wanna kill me, like the spineless bastard he is. And besides, that meant nothing to me whatsoever, so… I-I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Sure," she grinned, noticing how jumpy he was getting. Of course it meant something to him. Probably not whatever it meant to Izumi, but to him, it meant something. 

"Where is your annoying other half?" Takuya asked, slowly letting the "rain sequence" slip out of his fingers. He didn't wanna think about it anymore. He just wanted to go home, sleep in his own bed, and then wake up to the smell of carrot cake with his name all over it. Of course, he wouldn't eat it, he'd just give it to Daisuke or someone. Daisuke would eat anything. 

"Koji," Izumi began. "…last time I saw him, he was in the cafeteria, talking to Ruki. That b-"

"I only asked where he was." 

Izumi sighed, her arms still crossed. "I think he's losing interest in me. We hardly talked last night-"

"Can't imagine what else could've been more important," he said, sarcastically. Izumi rolled her eyes, slightly.

"Seriously, Takuya," she told him. "Can we focus on my problem?" Takuya ignored her, and continued walking. Izumi followed him, still talking, "He apologized for everything, and so did I… and then he said he was busy, so he'd call back. But he never did call back. I called back around 11, and Kouichi picked up. He said he wasn't there, and that he was looking for Koji too. He'd come over to see what happened to him, but his parents told him that Koji left around an hour ago… you don't think he went to her house, do you?"

"Where else would he go?" Takuya asked, slowly. "…does Koji have any friends?"

"Of course."

"I haven't seen any."

"What are you getting at?"

"Nothing."

"Sure."

"Sure."

"…so drop it."

"I dropped it a long time ago." He told her. "Listen, if you know what this guy's doing to you, then confront him about it, and leave me the hell out of your life. I don't even like Koji."

"Oh, I figured that." Izumi nodded. "I think I know why you don't like Koji, though."

"What about the reason that I supposedly hated you?" he asked, turning to look at her. She scowled. "Well what?"

"You said you didn't hate me."

"Just go on, will you?"

"Okay," she began. "It's because he's… going out with me." She nodded, smiling. Takuya's expression grew frightful, and Izumi almost laughed.

"Where'd you get something stupid like that?" he asked, his voice cracking slightly. Luckily for him, she didn't notice. "If you think that's the reason… it's not."

"Mmhmm,"

"It's not," he replied again. "Izumi, you're losing it. If you're trying to take complete advantage of me, it's not working. Why? Because I know how awfully manipulative you can be. You're trying to get me to like you, because the only person who does like you, doesn't like you anymore… and you're running out of friends." He nodded, knowledgeably.

"Oh please, Takuya," she scoffed, doubtfully. "That's obviously not true."

"Shut up, yes it is."

"Shut up, no it's not."

"Yeah, it is."

"No, it's not."

"Yeah it-"

"Izumi!" they both stopped arguing if only for a second. Hikari, Izumi's friend and the only reason Daisuke came to school, was standing at the other end of the hallway. "I have the most important thing to tell you!" she called.

"Ah… okay," she called back to her. She turned to Takuya with a vengeful look. "You're so stuck on yourself. I would punch you, if I knew you weren't already on the brink of extinction."

"I've never been punched by a girl before," he said, edgily. "Could be fun."

"You're such a-"

"Izumi!" Hikari called to her again.

"I'm coming, one second," she told her, snapping a little. She turned back to Takuya, still quite pissed at him. Taking him in on his offer, she punched him hard in his right arm, and smiled, sweetly before she skipped off. "See you later," she blew him a quick kiss, and went off to join Hikari.

"God, what a b-" _Wait… that didn't hurt. _His arm was throbbing. She had incredibly good aim; she punched him in his bicep. It hurt. A great deal. _I swear to God, that didn't hurt… what the hell is this? Beat-up-defenseless-Takuya week?!_ He gripped his arm and tried to walk normally down the hallway. He hadn't just been punched by a girl, and actually thought it was painful. _Her hands are pretty strong…_

"What's with you, always with him?" Hikari asked, as her and Izumi began walking. "And what's with you, not with Koji anymore?"

"Me and Koji didn't break up, first off," Izumi told her, nodding. "And me and Takuya… just talk a lot."

"You punched him."

"I think we're pretty okay friends." She replied. "If you wanna call it a friendship, you can."

"So there's nothing… else, right?" Hikari asked, with a bit of hope in her voice. Izumi glared at her. Hikari always thought Izumi was seeing other people, and soon found herself matching her friend with Kouichi, JP, Ken and even Daisuke. She never ever thought of the whole Takuya and Izumi thing, though. Ever since 3rd grade, she figured they hated each other. Izumi shook her head. "Crap."

"You said you had something important to tell me," she reminded her.

"…show you, actually," Hikari told her. "I wished I've never brought it up." She mentally kicked herself as they continued toward the cafeteria. "What you're about to see might considerably shock you, so don't say I didn't warn you."

"What is it, Hikari?" Izumi asked, getting impatient. Hikari nodded slowly as they began to enter the cafeteria. She pointed to an end table at the back, where it was clear the people figured no one could see.

There at the back table, is where Izumi spotted Koji with someone. But not just any "someone". This someone was Ruki. And what they were doing was completely inexplicable, to Izumi's mind anyway. _Why is she kissing him…? Izumi fumed to herself. She fought back all urges to kill Ruki, though she had no reason why. _I can't let Koji know I saw anything… Izumi, just handle this with complete control. Don't do anything rash, it might ruin your reputation…__

"I'm so sorry, but I figured you had a right to know…" Hikari muttered, mercilessly attacking her fingernails. Izumi looked blank, but didn't respond. Hikari turned back to her, and the make-out session. Neither one had ceased to change. "…Izumi?"

"Hikari…" she began, slowly, her voice slowly disappearing. "…I think… I forgot something…" _Say locker. Say locker._ "…in my locker." _Yes! I'm saved!_ "I'll be… right back." She said, uneasily. She slowly turned on her heel and headed down the hallway.

"But…" Hikari began, but trailed off, slowly. Before she headed off to find her, loud screams and sobs were heard from outside. Everyone paused and stayed silent, listening to the constant wails of the screamer outside.

"…hmm," Koji muttered, shaking his head slightly, as the cafeteria stayed in complete silence. "...sounds like Izumi." He thought for awhile.

"…who?" Ruki began, testily. "I thought you said we weren't gonna bring her up ever again. And when are you gonna break up with her anyway?"

"I never said I was gonna break up with her-" he was cut off, as Ruki gave him a piercingly annoying, yet angry look. He said nothing, for the while. "…I'm gonna go see if she's okay." He got up slowly and headed out the door.

******

"What is that racket?" Mr. Toshiba came down the hall, still equipped with his pointer stick. Many people were grouped around the girls' bathroom, just standing and waiting. The fuming math teacher stared around, spotting many of his students that decided to take the class off listening to something, or someone, crying in the bathroom.

"AAAAAHHHH!!!" the person inside screamed, mercilessly.

"I rate that one a 9.5," JP whispered to Ken, slowly. Ken shrugged. The both of them continued staring at the door.

"Oh God, I hope she's okay," Hikari muttered to herself. She'd tried several times to talk to Izumi but, for some reason, she wouldn't answer her. She just said to let her be alone. Hikari sighed, and waited back outside. "She's been crying like that for hours now."

"Thank God, too," Daisuke nodded, popping another barbeque chip into his mouth. "I lost my math book."

"You're so insensitive," Hikari told him, digging into his bag of chips and stealing half of them. "She's deeply upset, and I can understand why."

"Of course I don't know why, guess who didn't tell me," Daisuke said, fishing through his bag for the remainders of the chips. Hikari shot him a pestered look, but said nothing. "…well what?" he asked, blankly.

"This is a matter for the principal," Mr. Toshiba nodded sternly and set off on his journey to see the principal, Mr. Yokohashi.

"At least the spotlight's off you," Takeru whispered to Takuya who had just walked up. Takuya looked at him, and let go of his arm slowly, pretending it didn't hurt. It still ached a little, but he would live. 

"Thank God," he said. "…what's going on anyway?"

"Izumi's crying," Takeru nodded. "Something about a backstabbing bastard and his _beeep_ girlfriend… it's a long story." He shrugged. "Hikari won't tell anyone, and then still expects people to have compassion."

"So why are you here, if you don't know anything about it?" Takuya asked, cluelessly.

"Tch, you kidding?" he smirked. "Anything that'll get me out of Mr. Toshiba's class. I didn't finish the last question of the assignment."

"…wow," Takuya began, sarcastically. "Wonder what kind of grueling punishment he'll give you for not finishing the last question."

"Yeah, I know," 

"It'd probably be more than mine, considering I didn't finish it at all." 

Takeru shrugged, and continued watching the door.

Takuya, clearly agreeing that Takeru didn't get the sarcasm that ruthlessly floated into his face and up his nostrils, was about to leave for down the hall when the bathroom door creaked open. Everyone gasped, and as Takuya turned around, he swore he saw a camera flash. Izumi could barely be seen through the small crack, but of what she could see, she saw Takuya. He feared she saw him too, so he continued walking, slowly.

She reached out a hand and grabbed the nearest person in reach, which was JP. After a lot of struggling, he was in the bathroom and all was silent. "JP's in the girls' bathroom with Izumi!" someone chorused. No one followed, however. This was like a real life soap opera, except this one, you could actually understand! Seconds later, JP was thrown out of the bathroom and the door was shut. The crying and wailing continued. Mr. Toshiba still hadn't gotten back.

"Ah!" JP looked around, quickly. "Where'd he go?" he asked, loudly. No one replied. "…wait!" he ran out of the crowd and down the hall as he spotted Takuya walking away. "Takuya!!"

Takuya turned around  just to see JP almost knock him over. "Um…" Takuya began, slowly. "…what?"

"Hey…" JP panted, bending down to catch his breath. _Calm down, Takuya thought. __…oh God, he's wheezing and he only ran two steps. "…this might take awhile." JP muttered._

"What is it?" Takuya asked, as the crowd began to direct their attention towards JP and Takuya. Daisuke opened another bag of chips, this time ketchup, and began snacking away as he still watched from the door, Hikari still sneaking chips of out his bag.

"Izumi wants you in the bathroom," JP finally spoke up. "Said it's urgent."

"Izumi wants you in the bathroom?" Daisuke asked, loudly, a smile appearing on his lips. "…that doesn't sound right in many ways."

"I'm not gonna go in the girls' bathroom," Takuya said, defensively, grasping his arm. "…I'm not going near her anymore, either."

"…dude, why are you feeling up your arm?" JP asked. Takuya dropping his arm, and deftly ignored JP. He walked down the hall, ignoring the crowd and whispers. He pushed open the door of the bathroom, and the crying amplified. He quickly rushed in and shut the door behind him. 

*******

End of chapter 3! :) The next chapter'll be out sooner than this one was. Sorry for making everyone wait… actually, I wasn't aware anyone was seriously waiting, but sorry anyway. =D Pleeeez review…


	4. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

Author's Note: I wouldn't really say this is my absolute first Digimon fic, because it's not. I have a strange history with the TV show, both the Japanese and English version. In fact-- I was the biggest fan in the world, and then got hypnotized by a certain movie… and never watched the show again. But, I'm back to grace you with my presence! Don't ya just love me?! (people can be seen fleeing) …I see how you stay…

Unnecessary Disclaimer: I don't know why I even bother with this stuff. I mean, you know I don't own Digimon or anything closely affiliated with it. So why must I bother saying it so many times?

MINOR notes: I'm using the Japanese names. Why? Because I can. I'm also mixing in a few of the 02 characters, for reference and maybe some references to other characters. Why? Because I can. Also, because if I just used plain Frontier people, Izumi would have no friends that were girls. Odd, isn't it? So… I think that's about all you have to know-- OH! This is a Takumi fic, btw. It ends up that way, no matter what you seem to think. It's also slightly AU. They're in high school. I don't know where they live, but I used Odaiba because it was the first thing within reach =) And… I made up Takuya's family for the fun of it.

It Might Be You  
Chapter 4  
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

"…I-Izumi?" he whispered, quietly. The crying continued. "…God! Shut up!" he yelled, and suddenly, the crying stopped. People outside continued to listen. Izumi pushed back one of the bathroom stall doors. She was sitting on the floor, curled up, and crying. She wiped her tears away quickly, and got up from the tiled floor. "…what happened?" Takuya asked, softly. _Wait… why do I care? Obviously, Takuya wasn't listening to himself. As his head continued to argue with… his head, he didn't leave, or say it out loud. He stayed and listened. Willingly._

"It's hard to explain," she whispered, groggily. She hopped up on the counter by the sinks and mirrors, but said nothing more.

"…does this have anything to do with Koji?" Takuya asked, slowly. Izumi grumbled and then jumped down off the counter, angrily. Takuya said nothing.

"Don't you ever mention his name again…" she snapped, quietly. He nodded, feeling a sudden fear around her. "I don't wanna talk about him…" she mumbled, crossing her arms.

"So if you didn't wanna talk to me, what the hell do you want me for anyway?" he asked. "Don't tell me something lame like, _you were probably lonely without me."_

"…well," she sighed. "It's confusing. I need someone to talk to, but I don't wanna talk about it."

"…I'm not gonna sit here and watch you cry and then bitch about your life and _'the-bastard-that-can't-be-named'. I have a life too, believe it or not."_

"I knew that, and considering you're so built up on yourself, you never ever care about what's going on with other people," she told him, edgily. "Bastard… but that's what I like about you… now sit, and shut up."

"I'd rather stand."

"I don't care," she sighed, hopping back on the counter. "…sometimes, you can be so unnecessarily difficult. I mean, this is seriously not the time," she grumbled, angrily.

"You know," Takuya began, obviously not phased by her anger. "I can't believe you still had the guts to punch the hell out of my arm, but you can't seem to convince yourself that Koji is not God."

"…that's not the point, Takuya."

"Who cares if it's not. You're acting like, as soon as he hates you, you'll die." He told her, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. She flashed him a confused look. "It's true. I understand that preppy girls might be angry because some guy doesn't like you, and a whole bunch of crap like that-"

"Excuse me?" she asked, annoyed.

"-but considering you're not one of them, I have no idea why it bothers you so much that this _'bastard-that-can't-be-named'_ was with his ex, or whatever happened." 

Izumi didn't speak for awhile. Her eyes shifted casually around the room, and her temper dropped. "…you don't hate me." Takuya flinched, annoyed, but Izumi continued. "You don't think I'm preppy, either?"

"Why do you automatically think that I had some kind of bad image of you?" he asked. 

"Because I heard you saying-"

"Okay, I get it," he interrupted, quickly. "Spring the facts on me, why don't you? …again."

"…it's strange," she said, slowly. "…_He_ makes me cry all the time, and I loved him a lot. …but then you always make me smile, and I… have no opinion on you whatsoever." She sniffed, staring down at the tiles. "You're really sweet."

"…hmm," he shrugged, in acknowledgement. Neither of them spoke for the while. Izumi looked like she was gonna cry again, and Takuya kept looking at the clock that was conveniently located on the wall above her head. And then it occurred to him. _Takuya. You're in the girls' bathroom. …whoa._ "Um," he spoke up, softly. "I'm gonna leave. Hope everything goes well with you and Koji." He said, quickly before heading towards the door.

Before he could touch the handle of the door, Izumi broke out in tears again. He sighed, semi-angrily and semi-annoyed. He turned around to look at her, "What's wrong now? Besides the obvious?"

"AAH!" she screamed, shaking her head. She then shot Takuya a fiery look, and snapped at him, "I told you to never, ever mention his name again!!"

"God," Takuya sighed, tiredly. "Sorry, okay?"

"I hate him so much…" she rambled, ignoring Takuya completely. "Me and him were so close… and I hate to think all those kisses were for nothing. I'm really, really confused-- Takuya," she looked up, just as he grasped the door handle again. "…where are you going? I'm not done talking to you yet." She said, piercingly.

"Izumi," he began, still keeping his hand on the handle. "There is nothing else to talk about. It's clear you hate this guy, and it's also really clear that I don't care." He nodded. 

"…you never care." Izumi said. "…luckily for you, _I don't care that _you_ don't care." She hopped off the counter, and walked over to him. "If I do break up with the bastard-"_

"Not again," he sighed, letting go of the door handle and leaning against the door instead.

"-what do you think that'll do for my reputation?" Izumi asked, slowly. "Will it strengthen my popularity status?"

"More like your ego than anything."

"Takuya,"

"Why don't you ever want me to tell you the truth?"

"Takuya!"

"Sorry," he sighed. "Tell me when you're done asking questions so I can leave. Mr. Toshiba went to find the principal, and if he comes back, I don't think he'll expect to find a guy in the girls' bathroom."

"…maybe I should ask Hikari." Izumi began. "She always knows these things."

"Why didn't you ask her to begin with?" he mumbled.

"You're so full of yourself," she scoffed, absently. Her eyes began to wander again. They landed upon his arm, folded delicately in his other. And then she remembered. "…so, how's your arm?"

"…my arm?" he repeated slowly. _Oh yeah._ "…it's fine." he lied, nodding convincingly.

Izumi flashed him a "whatever" look, but said nothing. She continued to stare at the ground, and never spoke. He continued to stare blankly ahead of him, arms crossed, not speaking. 

"What do you think they're doing in there?" Hikari asked, popping another chip into her mouth. She leaned her ear against the door. It was deafeningly quiet, for once. "The screaming stopped."

"Hmm," Daisuke shrugged, absently. "They're probably making out or something."

"Daisuke, you're so wrong," JP sighed, shaking his head. The crowd didn't seem to phase-- they'd all been hanging around the door. Mr. Toshiba hadn't come back yet. 

"You're right," he added. "Knowing Takuya… they probably aren't. But I know I would be."

"You're sick," Hikari said, grabbing the chip bag from him. "…is this the last one?" she asked, noticing the bag was finished. He shrugged, and began to search his pockets. "I'm going crazy!" she said, edgily.

"You can go in, you know," JP nodded. "You're a girl, and this is the girls bathroom."

"Yeah, but what if they are making out?" Hikari asked, thoughtfully. "…I mean, seriously. Izumi would, she's just like that. How did you guys think she met Koji?" she asked.

"…correction." JP began, slowly. "You guys are both sick."

******

"I wanna leave now-"

"Forget it," Izumi told him, testily. "Oh, and then, he bought me this really nice necklace thing… do you think he would've bought the same one for Ruki?" she asked, spirits dropping. "… do you?" she nudged Takuya in the shoulder when he didn't answer.

"Don't care."

"I think he probably did," Izumi sighed, ignoring what he said. "…I really wanna believe he still loves me, not Ruki. …but it's hard to believe something that might not be true."

"Interesting."

"What do you think?" she asked him, uncalled for. He was confused too. "…well?"

"I think…" he began slowly. "…that ear plugs would be great right about now."

"…you bastard." She whispered, at a loss for words.

"Well, you said you wanted to know what I was thinking, right?" he asked. "Right?" he asked again, noticing her blank stares. She didn't reply. "Oh come on, you can't take me that seriously." He shrugged. "It's not right."

"…no- wait… shut up," she began, shaking her head slightly. Then she smiled, "You're confusing me. I didn't mean that in a bad way."

"Oh really?" he asked, confused. "Last person I called a bastard, I really hated them."

"No, but listen," she sighed. "You were right about everything. …I shouldn't take anything that seriously. And if I wanna break up with Koji, it's my problem." She sniffed slightly at mentioning his name again. "And I know you don't care, and I'm really sorry for bothering you with all of my problems." She reached over and gave him a quick hug. He didn't move at all. "Say something."

"…like what?" he asked, slowly. 

"Hmm," she mumbled, looking at him strangely. Takuya noticed the same look from the evening before when they were walking down the street… strangely hungry eyes. _That's still not right, he told himself, but still said nothing aloud. "…fine. Don't say anything." She whispered, leaning closer to him. She delicately pressed her lips against his…_

******

"It's been 25 minutes!!" Hikari whined, tiredly. She checked her watch again. "…26! Where is she-- I'm getting desperate…"

"…we know." Ken muttered, noticing she was clinging onto Daisuke with her head buried in his chest.

"Shut up," they both muttered. Ken said nothing.

"Ugh, I'm hungry," JP complained, rubbing his stomach, mercilessly. "I need a… sandwich with chicken and teriyaki sauce, with freshly roasted ham sliced with a thin, yet warm butcher knife, with pieces of lettuce, crisp and green… and freshly baked whole wheat bread, thickly sliced decked with sesame seeds…" he sighed.

"…God, JP," Ken muttered, looking at him oddly.

"I need water."

"27 minutes." Hikari added, with a sigh. "Maybe they are making out."

"Probably." Daisuke shrugged. "…haven't heard any talking for the past… 20 minutes."

"27."

"Whatever."

Suddenly, the door swung open. The crowd of people who were now sitting in the hallway and lounging on the floors, managed to look up or sit up. Izumi walked out first, fixing her hair which was oddly tangled. Then, Takuya walked out, positioning his goggles on his head properly. No one spoke.

"…God," Hikari muttered, slowly, but with a hint of jealousy. "…you guys were making out, weren't you?" she whispered to Izumi.

"Why are you hugging Daisuke?" Izumi asked, completely changing the subject. "So much for me having a thing for him."

"…um…" she muttered, letting go of him quickly. She looked up at him and smiled, "Thanks, bye." She waved, before she and Izumi took off down the hallway.

"So what did happen?" Ken asked, slowly.

"Oh…" he muttered, noticing his lips felt glossier than usual. _Crap. He brought up the bottom of his shirt and began wiping away at his lips, rapidly. They stared at him oddly. "Hmm, um… nothing special."_

"Please," Daisuke shrugged. "You expect me to believe that?"

"…yeah." 

"We spent the whole day standing outside a bathroom door," JP nodded. "School would be over in another… 5 or 10 minutes, at the least."

"…was it really that long?" he asked, slowly. They flashed odd grins at him, but didn't reply.

******

"Best friends tell other best friends stuff," Daisuke said, ripping open another bag of chips as he and Takuya headed off down the street to their apartment buildings. Takuya still didn't wanna talk about what happened… or what could've happened. Or, basically, what happened. Daisuke refused to believe Takuya when he explained his lips were always that shiny. Daisuke also noticed his goggles were on wrong. "What's going on with you and Izumi anyway? Hikari said it'd been 27 minutes, but I know she was slowly letting the time slip… the bell rang for 4th period classes… and the last bell would've been the end of school. That was like… a really long time,"

"You're exaggerating," Takuya said, deftly. 

"How come you can't just tell me?" he asked. "I'd probably tell Ken or someone, but that's about it."

"You wouldn't tell JP, though," Takuya sighed. "That me and Izumi _were making out, because he'd kill me." Daisuke's eyes lit up gradually, but surely. _I knew this would happen.__

"You guys were…" Daisuke stuttered. "Seriously?"

"I knew it!" Hikari grinned to herself, as she and Izumi walked home that day. Hikari's eyes were strangely menacing as she laughed to herself in a possessive way.

"I shouldn't have told you," Izumi said, doubtfully. "You're never gonna let me live through this."

"Oh yes, I will," Hikari nodded, still smiling. "What kind of friend do you think I am? I won't tell anyone, if that's what you want."

"I don't want anyone to know." Izumi said, quietly, her arms crossed across her chest as she walked. "That would seriously ruin my life."

"So when are you gonna break up with Koji?" Hikari asked, as if she'd just remembered. Izumi looked at her, puzzled. "Don't tell me," Hikari continued. "That you plan on going out with Takuya and not breaking up with Koji."

"Who said I was going out with Takuya?" 

"…well, you didn't have to say anything." Hikari shrugged.

"While you're at it," Izumi muttered, slowly. "And since you said you weren't gonna tell anyone… you mind if I tell you something else?"

"Sure,"

"…I think," she began, hesitantly and incredibly slowly. Hikari prodded her to go on, but she still continued, incredibly slowly, "…I think… I-- no… I think he's pretty okay."

"Isn't that what you said about Koji?"

"Yeah, but Takuya's different," she said, smiling to herself. Hikari noticed, but said nothing. "I mean, I only liked Koji because I thought he was a really good kisser, and we never really got to talk and…" she stopped herself before she went on and on about everything she'd never told anyone. Not ever. 

"…and?" Hikari asked. "…and?"

"…and what's with you and Daisuke?" Izumi asked, suddenly, a smile appearing. Hikari paused for awhile. Izumi could tell she was searching for words. Any words. "You were hugging him."

"I was not," Hikari protested. She didn't seem to have much to say about it.

"If your date with Takeru didn't go well," Izumi began. "Then you should ask Daisuke out."

"Please," Hikari sighed. "He probably wouldn't wanna go out with me." Izumi flashed her a quick smile. "Um," Hikari gasped. "I mean… not that I would ask him… just…"

"Just what?" Takuya asked. Daisuke didn't reply; he continued stuffing his mouth with chips. "…I'm serious, Daisuke. You told me in grade 6 that you never wanted to go to school again."

"Takuya-"

"And then I told you Hikari was gonna be in our class… and, you never ever stayed home again." Takuya laughed, slightly. Daisuke flashed him and odd look. "Come on, we both know she's the only reason you still go to school. You're not really interested in being a… um, whatever you said you wanted to be in guidance class in 7th grade."

"…you're probably right." Daisuke shrugged. "…but- wait… you're just trying to get me off this whole topic with you and Izumi."

"…says who?"

"Oh, shut up," he grinned. "You probably like her and you won't tell me."

"She's okay."

"He's okay, I told you," Izumi shrugged, trying to not expand on the subject.

"So you don't hate him?" Hikari asked, slowly. Izumi shook her head.

"She still thinks I hate her, and it's driving me crazy…" Takuya mumbled, shaking his head. 

"You better hope she breaks up with Koji soon," Daisuke nodded. "People would automatically assume things… rumors can start from anything. And unless you start wearing lip gloss to school, people are gonna know." He smirked.

"God, you're right," Takuya muttered. "…why does my life suck so much?" he asked himself.

"Oh my God, he is so cute!"

"Who're you talking about?"

"Takuya-- he's so hot."

"He's my brother, don't tell me that kind of stuff about him. It's sickening."

"Only because you're practically in love with Daisuke. Believe me-- if you were in _my_ position, you'd love Takuya too…"

"Daisuke is so hot. I wish I could rip off his clothes…"

The both of them sighed, dreamily.

"…what the hell?" Daisuke muttered. He and Takuya turned around slowly. Tayumi and her friend Megumi were standing on the sidewalk, practically gazing at the both of them. "…it's your sister again."

"Not now," Takuya shook his head. 

"She's really scary."

"I know."

"Hmm," Tayumi sighed. Her eyes came back to focus, after a brief fantasy of her and Daisuke. She noticed, up ahead, someone who looked strangely like Takuya and someone who looked exactly like Daisuke were looking at them oddly. It soon came to her, that they weren't look-alikes. "Oh… Megumi-" she poked her in her shoulder. "I think they heard us."

"What?" Megumi mumbled. "…ah! I think he's looking at me." She grinned to herself, completely overreacting.

"You don't get it, do you?"

"What?"

"…I'm in trouble."

*****

That's the end of part 4… pleez review if you liked it! :) Oh, and… hmmzies… I can't seem to think straight. G-bye for now. Chapter 5 will be out soon…


	5. Meet the Kanbara's

Author's Note: I wouldn't really say this is my absolute first Digimon fic, because it's not. I have a strange history with the TV show, both the Japanese and English version. In fact-- I was the biggest fan in the world, and then got hypnotized by a certain movie… and never watched the show again. But, I'm back to grace you with my presence! Don't ya just love me?! (people can be seen fleeing) …I see how you stay…

Unnecessary Disclaimer: I don't know why I even bother with this stuff. I mean, you know I don't own Digimon or anything closely affiliated with it. So why must I bother saying it so many times?

MINOR notes: I'm using the Japanese names. Why? Because I can. I'm also mixing in a few of the 02 characters, for reference and maybe some references to other characters. Why? Because I can. Also, because if I just used plain Frontier people, Izumi would have no friends that were girls. Odd, isn't it? So… I think that's about all you have to know-- OH! This is a Takumi fic, btw. It ends up that way, no matter what you seem to think. It's also slightly AU. They're in high school. I don't know where they live, but I used Odaiba because it was the first thing within reach =) And… I made up Takuya's family for the fun of it.

It Might Be You  
Chapter 5  
Meet the Kanbara's

"Hi kids," Reiko greeted each of them as soon as they walked in the door. Tayumi wasn't her usual springy self, and Takuya seemed sort of out of it too. She gave them each a hug and handed them Nutri-Grain™ bars . "How's my baby?" she asked, hugging Tayumi extra hard. Takuya groaned, but said nothing as he headed to the living room to check the TV and see if anything was on that would slightly get his mind off Izumi.

"Just great, mom," she sighed.

"What's wrong?" she asked, quietly. She instantly turned on Takuya, "Takuya, what did you say to your sister?"

"Nothing," Takuya shrugged, unwrapping the grain bar. "I didn't say anything to her at all. Nope. Not even after I heard her saying how she was gonna rip the clothes off my best friend. She thinks he's _so hot_. And her best friend-- Megumi-- is a pain."

"Don't say that about Megumi!" Tayumi scoffed. She turned to Reiko in a pleading state, "…Mom, he's lying." 

"Takuya stop lying."

"What the hell, mom?"

"Besides, Takuya," Tayumi began, in a devilish state. She grinned, haughtily, "Megumi's coming over for dinner. We have a project to work on."

Takuya looked back between Reiko and Tayumi who looked equally convinced. Reiko gave Tayumi an extra hug for bringing friends over-- Takuya never did. And you can easily see why. "…let me guess," he began, sarcastically. "While your best friend's here, pissing the hell out of me or _hitting on me_, you want me to ask Daisuke over, so you can rip his clothes off."

"Mom!"

"Takuya, be nice."

"If you must know, you can call Daisuke if you like," Tayumi nodded. "I now know where he lives." She grinned. Then, suddenly, she turned to Reiko in a pleading state, "Mom, tell him he _has_ to call Daisuke. It's… um, for our project." 

"Okay, sweetie," Reiko smiled, warmly. She turned to Takuya, who looked strangely shocked, "Takuya, call Daisuke."

"What the hell, mom?" Takuya asked, irritably. "He's _my _friend, and besides, _she's_ the reason he doesn't come over anymore." Reiko gave him a leering look, but didn't speak. Tayumi continued looking "sad". Takuya sighed, "Daisuke's going to see his cousin, he can't come." He lied, walking to his room. "Did Takeyo leave?"

"Yes, he left this afternoon," Reiko nodded. "Oh, but he'll be back for dinner. With your father, I suppose."

"Great."

Tayumi crossed her arms in a huff. "You're so mean, Takuya. Don't you think Ken could come over if Daisuke can't?" 

"…Mom, tell Tayumi to stop hitting on all my friends." He called from his room. "And tell her, Daisuke thinks she's strange." 

"That's not true," Tayumi called back. "…Mom, tell Takuya that Megumi still has that picture of him in a towel from last month." She smiled inwardly, and headed to her room.

"…well, that went nicely." Reiko beamed to herself. She went to the kitchen to check on dinner. "Tayumi, Takuya, your father will be back for dinner, so if you two are having friends over, remind them to not talk about orbs. That always gets him started." She shook her head, slowly.

*****

"Any luck?"

"No," Takuya called over the loud music blasting from his stereo. He turned it down a little so he could speak into his speakerphone. "Nothing helps. I tried snapping my head with my goggles, but that didn't work either."

"Try listening to your brother," Daisuke replied, smiling.

"That'll give me a headache."

"Hey, at least it'll be somethin' different. Pick one-- headache or Izumi."

Takuya began pacing, and thinking. Deftly ignoring the "well?" every now and then from Daisuke, he continued to think. "…Takuya?" Daisuke asked after sometime.

"I'm still thinking."

"Put it this way," Daisuke began. "Aspirin is like the miracle drug when you wanna cure a headache, right? Now let's pretend Izumi's the headache and the aspirin is something that can get you to stop thinking about her. So… what's the aspirin?"

"…what?"

"The aspirin."

"…probably Koji." Takuya nodded, turning down the volume of the stereo. "…or JP. If they found out, I wouldn't be living."

"I figure that." Daisuke replied. "But it's not like you're gonna get Koji to kill you, so you have to think of something different. …what about the finals?"

"The finals?"

"Oh, God, you forgot…" he muttered. "The finals for southern Odaiba are early next week. You have to ask Coach Sugiyama when, because I forgot. It was marked on my calendar, but I can't find that anymore… look. You even forgot about the finals since whatever happened with Izumi happened."

"Hey, maybe it was being unconscious that sorta knocked my head empty, okay? Maybe it was an accident that I forgot…"

"Maybe it was an accident, my ass. You're screwed."

Takuya sighed. _He's right… why is he always right? What is with everyone else being right, and me being wrong? It's so… not right. It's so wrong. _"…maybe if I go to bed-"

"No, no, no, no, no!!" he paused in mid-sentence just as Reiko came through the door with her soup spoon in her hand. She glared at him angrily, "No one is going to bed before dinner! I won't allow it! Dinner will be ready in around 30 minutes and Tayumi's friend is here." She smiled. "Hello Daisuke!!" she called loudly into the speakerphone. "Hope your visit with your cousin goes well! Stop by for dinner soon!" she winked at Takuya and left, shutting the door behind her.

"…Takuya… Takuya…"

"…um, yeah?" he asked, in a shocked manner.

"…what… was that?" Daisuke asked, slowly.

"…nutritionist."

"Oh."

"…we'll talk later."

"Sure… whatever, man."

"Bye-"

"Don't forget about the finals," Daisuke told him, sternly before clicking off his phone. Takuya did the same. He sighed and looked around. These places used to be the best hiding spots when he was 6. But, 10 years later, it seemed so vague. He wasn't hungry. He just wanted to sleep. But his mom's never understood that. 

"Takuya! Come meet your sister's friend!" he heard his dad call to him.

"Oh… God," he sighed, reluctantly. Before he left, he took a quick peek outside his window. He swore he saw someone walk by that looked like Izumi. But he had no time to contemplate it-- Tayumi rushed in, grabbed his arm and pulled him outside.

"Come here, I want you to formally meet Megumi," she said when they reached the living room.

Megumi waved to him. She was wearing a mini-skirt and a halter top with knee-high boots. _Are 14 year olds supposed to be dressing like sluts? _He could've swore she winked at him a little. Megumi smiled, "Hi Takuya," she said in a convincingly seductive tone.

"…hi." He answered, apathetically. He avoided her eyes effectively, and turned to the balcony window. He wondered if the person walking outside was Izumi… _What is she-- stalking me or something?_

"Takuya-" Reiko peered out from the kitchen. "Number one, dinner's not ready and number two, you can't wear those goggles at the table." She told him. "You'll thank me."

"Okay," Takuya said, taking off his goggles and whirling them around his fingers. "Sure. When I'm on my death bed, the first thing I'll do, is thank you for not letting me wear my goggles at the dinner table." He sighed. "…I'll be right back." He said before heading to his room.

"Fine-- but you're not missing dinner again!"

"Sure." He answered before shutting his door.

"He's so awesome…" Megumi smiled, dreamily, sitting on one of the dining table chairs. She turned to Tayumi, "Can you ask him to sit beside me at dinner?"

"You ask him," Tayumi told her, nonchalantly. "He hardly listens to me anyway."

Takuya stuck his goggles on his bed post and headed back to the window. He was right. The girl walking by was Izumi, and she still hadn't left yet. She was sitting on a bench by the front step of the building. It seemed like she was waiting for something, because she constantly kept checking her watch. _Damn my empathetic nerves… do I really need them?_ He sighed and headed out of his room and into the front hallway.

"Takuya, where are you going _before dinner?" Reiko's voice was piercingly annoying._

"Somewhere," he told her. "I'll be right back and no, I'm not gonna miss dinner." He said before leaving and shutting the door behind him.

*****

"He said he'd be here by now… maybe he was lying." Izumi whispered to herself, checking her watch. It was just past 6. She wasn't in much of a hurry, but she had asked Koji if he would stop by and pick her up. For no specific reason, of course, she just wanted to make sure he'd be able to. And that he wasn't busy. 

"Huh?" she gasped, startled. She swore she heard a footstep come up behind her. And suddenly, as she turned around, she felt an aura around her. Someone else's. There was no one behind her, which made her even more scared than before. _Maybe it was just the wind._ She told herself, reassuringly, turning back to stare ahead of her. 

"So," a voice spoke up from beside her. She jumped a little, caught off guard, and turned to see Takuya sitting beside her, staring at the ground too. "Who're you waiting for?"

"…Koji," she answered, hesitantly. "…you know," she began, turning to look at him. "I have no idea why you keep asking me all these questions when you told me you didn't care."

"I'm just full of myself," he smirked, glancing at her sideways. "You said so yourself. _That's why I don't care about anyone else. Remember?"_

"Yeah," she smiled, slightly. _…wait a second. "Were you okay… with today and everything?"_

He nodded, slowly, but said nothing. Izumi sighed, "Okay, because I have some odd feeling that people know…" she trailed off slightly. "…not that it would do anything wrong for my reputation… maybe if someone found out I was kissing JP, they'd freak, but not with you."

"And why's that?" he asked, semi-confused.

"…well," she began. "…um-- it's not important." She nodded, standing up. "I should probably be leaving."

"Hmm,"

"…you get up, too," she said, pulling him up from the front step. "Otherwise you could look up my skirt and pretend to be looking at me." She grinned.

"Crap."

"I spend about a month with my cousins each year. They're just like you… annoying." She smiled. He looked at her with a questioning look. "…I'll see you tomorrow, I guess."

"Okay-" he shrugged, turning to head back to his apartment.

"Unless…" she stopped dead in her tracks and turned around. "…do you think I could stop by your house and… maybe pick up a snack or whatever?" she asked, turning to him, smiling sweetly. "I know your mom's a nutritionist unless she lost her job from 3rd grade."

_God. She knows. I bet anyone the world knows, too._ "…fine." he mumbled. "…tell me what you want, and I'll get it for you."

"Why don't you want me to go to your house?" she asked, suddenly very edgy. 

"…well," he began, slowly. "It's almost dinner, and my mom's gonna want you to stay over."

"And there's a problem with that?"

"Well, yeah, my sister's already got her annoying friend, who _loves_ me, over. I don't need another person to annoy the hell out of me." He smiled, mockingly.

"Oh, ha ha, whatever." She scoffed. "Come on," she grabbed hold of his arm, and pulled him into the building.

*****

"So what happened to waiting for Koji?" Takuya asked, just as they approached his front door.

"He's not gonna show, I know it. And if he does show up, it's his problem." She said, sourly. Takuya shrugged, reaching for the door knob. He twisted it open and pushed open the door, but didn't get very far.

Reiko was sitting in a chair by the door, with her chopsticks in her hand. She had her arms crossed, and of course, didn't have her happy face on. "Takuya… you missed 5 minutes of dinner. How are you gonna explain this?"

He sighed, ruefully and shook his head. "Sorry, mom, for missing whatever-the-hell minutes of dinner. It'll never happen again."

"It worked when you were 10! You're 16-- do you know how important nutrition is?" she snapped, emphasizing the word "nutrition". Takuya sighed.

"…Mom, this is Izumi." He said, changing the subject, effectively. "She said she wants to stay for dinner. Now can you leave me alone about not having any friends?" he asked.

"Sure thing," Reiko's expression grew cheerful. "Izumi! From school right?" she asked, embracing Izumi in a binding, unnecessary hug. She nodded, unable to breathe properly. "Welcome! You can sit beside Takuya at dinner!"

"What?" Megumi snapped, piercingly from the dinner table. She dropped her chopsticks and got up. So did Tayumi. They headed towards the door, and peeked at the entrance from around the corner. Megumi gasped, "Takuya knows Izumi! Wow… she's so cool. And he's so hot…" she almost choked, turning to Tayumi. "Are they going out?" Tayumi shrugged. Megumi sniffed.

"Come, meet the family," Reiko said, grabbing Izumi's hand and guiding her to the dining room. "Takuya, you can wear your goggles if you'd like." She winked.

"…wow," he mumbled, sarcastically. "What an honor." He headed back to his room and grabbed his goggles off the bed post. After fixating them on his head, he headed back outside to the dining room, when he heard Takeyo begin to speak.

"…hey!" Takeyo began, smiling. "You're that chick that was making out with Takuya that night…"

"…oh, crap." Takuya thought aloud. He headed to the living room, pretending he hadn't heard anything. Megumi looked like she was about to cry. Tayumi looked like she was recording gossip notes. Tenji looked just fine, chewing chicken morsels. Reiko looked semi-shocked and appraised. 

"I didn't know you and Takuya were going out," Tayumi began, slowly. "When did you break up with Koji?"

"Koji? Who's Koji?"

"…um, yesterday." Izumi replied, smiling. Takuya was speechless. 

"Oh, that's wonderful-" Reiko gushed to herself, almost jumping for joy. "Takuya promised he wouldn't have anymore girlfriends after the incident with Sakura, but I'm glad you two got along so well-"

"Wait a second," Takuya said, getting to his feet. He glanced at Izumi who was smiling, evilly. _She did set this whole thing up… I'm screwed. Crap, and there's no way I could tell them the truth. After all, why bother to believe Takuya-who-lies-all-the-time? …I'm screwed. Daisuke was right.  "…mom, her name was Makoto."_

"Oh, right, it was!" Reiko grinned even wider. "But that's a forgotten issue… why don't we sit down for dinner and talk awhile? I'm sure it would be wonderful if I could get to know you better." She told Izumi. 

"Not right now, mom," Takuya said. "Izumi, can I talk to you for a quick second?"

"Oh, sure," Izumi grinned, walking up to Takuya, and following him into his room. The door shut.

Megumi whimpered, "I wanna go into his room too."

"I'm sure you would," Tayumi sighed, smiling. "I can't believe my loser brother is going out with Izumi Orimoto…"

"Yeah, and I can't believe I'm not."

****

"I still can't believe you told them that we're going out," Takuya said, considerably. "…and I still can't believe that they believed you… god, my family's thick…" he sighed, dropping his head back. "This isn't my week at all…"

"Don't feel so bad," Izumi nodded. "I thought about what you said… about my ego and popularity status and things like that."

"And?"

"And-- ignoring the fact that I was gonna break up with Koji anyway-- I remembered how popular you are." She smiled. "Besides, no one has to really care if we're going out. It can just be… a scandal. Don't you just love those things?"

"Not really," he mumbled. "I'm freaking out. We're nowhere close to being at friend terms-" he paused. "-…and you just told my family that I was going out with you."

"Yep."

"…how come?" he asked, suddenly intrigued. "…I mean, seriously. You can break up with Koji, but why is it that you spring up some odd rumor out of nowhere and chose me to be your supposed boyfriend? Couldn't you choose Ken or someone? Or JP, even?"

"I could, but I didn't want to." Izumi smiled. "I chose you because I realized you're one of the only people who actually know who I am. Whether you like it… or not, that's not my problem." She sat down beside him, and leaned on his shoulder. "And if I had to pick a new boyfriend out of hundreds, I probably would pick you anyway, so stop beating yourself up over it."

Takuya said nothing. His eyes shifted uncomfortably to the door and to the window. He suddenly imagined some secret spy from Koji's house drop by the window, or someone open the door to his room and explain to him the many ways Koji would kill him. 

"…it's not that I like you, but then again, it's not that I hate you-- because I don't." Izumi explained. "I think you're… nice."

"I think you're crazy."

"Why thank you." She smiled. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"Why not." He mumbled, tiredly.

"Takuya," Takeyo knocked twice on his door. He was the only person in the house who actually knocked before entering, which Takuya worshipped him for. He pushed open the door anyway. "Hey," he smiled, winking at Izumi. She sighed, and closed her eyes. "Mom wants you both at the table. She said you guys can have sex any time you want, just not before nutrition." He grinned.

Takuya got up, Izumi clinging to his arm, as they both headed out the door. "Your brother scares me," Izumi whispered in his ear.

"He scares everyone." Takuya told her, shrugging it off. 

"Takuya- sit," Reiko grinned, gesturing to a chair beside Megumi. She instantly began to grin. "Izumi, you can sit beside him too if you life. Or, you can sit beside me-" she said, referring to the seat Tenji was currently in. "-and we can talk."

Izumi looked over to Takuya. He shrugged, and sat down anyway. She sat down beside him, without hesitation. She didn't wanna spend quality time with Reiko, and she was sure of that.

"Hey Megumi," Tayumi whispered to her. "If I'm lucky, Izumi might be my sister-in-law someday." She grinned, evilly. Megumi began to cry.

"So, Takuya," Tenji spoke up, picking his teeth with his chopsticks, awkwardly. "How come you never told us that you had a girlfriend before?"

"…because," Takuya answered, simply, playing with the noodles in his dish. Tenji didn't speak, waiting for Takuya to continue his answer. "…well, because, dad, you guys aren't really the best people to talk to about… things. Last time I told you some girl hugged me in 1st grade, you flipped."

"Well, circumstances being what they were, I was concerned."

"He's right, dad," Tayumi said. "You're sort of… strange. No offense."

"Tayumi, don't talk to your father that way." Reiko interrupted.

"But Takuya does it all the time!"

"That's because Takuya was never graced by my presence as a child," Takeyo sighed, sympathetically across the table to his brother. Takuya looked at him, but said nothing. He turned to Tenji, "Dad, I was reading chapter 12 of my lexicon."

"Brilliant! I can't believe you got that far!" Reiko smiled at him. "Wonderful. So tell us what you learned."

"Well--"

"Not before my Tayumi tells us about her math test today," Tenji smiled. "Go ahead, peaches."

_Why does she get to be Peaches? God, this sucks… _"See," Takuya whispered to Izumi. "This is the part where they totally forget who I am…" Izumi nodded, as Tayumi continued to tell how she passed the test with the highest score.

"Don't you ever get angry?" Izumi asked, slowly. "I know I would."

"You get used to it after awhile," he shrugged, stuffing noodles and chicken into his mouth. "It's usually by now, I leave and they never realize I'm gone until… well, a long time later. But it sucks, because my mom wakes me up at 2 in the morning, and complains that I haven't eaten and how much nutrition I missed that day… and a whole bunch of other crap."

"…so can we leave?" Izumi asked, turning to look at him.

"And go where?" he asked, dropping his bowl of noodles, slowly, just as Takeyo started up on chapter 12.

_Think, Izumi… think. I am a complete genius with getting this far, but he's obviously not that easy to persuade… damn._ "…wherever." She shrugged. "…can we go back to your room?"

"…and do what?"

"Why would you care?"

"…because."

"Well, stop it."

"I think I have a right to know what exactly you were planning on doing in _my _room with _me …alone."_

Izumi didn't reply right away. Her eyes shifted around the room, trying to think of a fast answer. But nothing came to mind. She knew exactly what she was planning on doing in his room with him alone, but she knew it wouldn't be a good idea to come right out and say it. After all, they'd only been "going out" for 2 hours. Some people would like to say it was rushing it, but she didn't care. Not at this moment. She'd been waiting for this for 9 years…(*cough;futurehint;cough*)"…do you wanna stay here then?" she asked, finally.

Takuya sighed, reluctantly. He somehow knew exactly what she wanted. He had no choice but to agree. Not out of his free will, of course. Izumi was the type to carry him into the room if he said no. _I'm gonna die a slow and painful death… first, I kiss Koji's girlfriend. Then, I sleep with Koji's girlfriend. Maybe I will thank my mom on my death bed. Whichever bed that is… "…no." he answered._

"Okay, then, come on." She got up slowly. Somehow, Takuya's parents were still deeply engulfed in Takeyo's chapter 12 lesson, than Takuya and Izumi leaving for his room. The door was shut, and then it was locked. Megumi noticed and tried to speak up, but it seemed that Takeyo and this chapter 12 were far more interesting than their son locked in a room with a girl. She felt honestly discouraged.

****

"And now what?" he asked impatiently, looking out his window. He looked back at the door, and noticed that it was locked. _Shit. I'm gonna die. In a less than usual panicky state, he found her lying on his bed, eyes wide open-- staring straight at him. __I really am gonna die. _

"Well, I dunno," she shrugged, sitting up. "I'm not used to being ignored every single day by my own family, so what do you usually do when you stay in your room all day?"

"Sleep." He answered. But then noticing her eyes flicker a bit, he noticed that wasn't the best thing to say… "…or try to find my PS2." He added, hastily.

"What happened to it?"

"I lost it last year… somewhere," he told her, while looking around his room for any spot he hadn't checked yet. "My sister was crying when she never got one… and so she hid it somewhere in my room, but I swear to God, every night before I go to bed, I hear distant sounds of ATV Offroad Fury from her room…" he mumbled, vengefully. "…but that's not important right now."

"Sure," Izumi replied, slowly. "…so… you wanna know what I found out about Koji in the last 24 hours?"

"Is it something I don't know?"

"Yeah," she answered. "He _was going out with Ruki Makino. I can't believe he lied to me. And you wanna know something else?"_

"If it's going down the same road, no."

"They _did_ sleep together-- a lot of times-- and they've been going out for 2 months behind my back. I can't believe he wouldn't even tell me… backstabbing asshole…" she muttered, lowly, crossing her arms angrily. "I am gonna kick his ass…"

Suddenly, getting into a supposed relationship with Izumi didn't seem so bright…

There was a distant tapping at the door, and a rattling of the doorknob. Takuya thought; it couldn't have been his dad or mom, they would've probably yelled through the door or something. Unless he thought they were busy… he shuddered, slightly. This situation was not gonna be easy to get out from. "Why's my door locked?" he asked Izumi, after awhile of senseless tapping at the door.

She smiled, shyly and told him, "I don't know…" in the most innocent voice she probably had. 

_Oh, sure… she doesn't know. _He thought. Izumi sighed, "Well hey, if it bothers you so much, you can twist the lock and guess what-- the door won't be locked anymore. And then you can twist the doorknob, and pull, and maybe the door will open."

"…shut up, I knew that."

"You don't act like it most of the time," she said, thoughtfully. "I'll just be here, pretending to be asleep, if it helps." She lay down on the bed and closed her eyes as Takuya went to get the door.

Tayumi and Megumi were standing there, looking wistful and at the same time trying to steal glances into his room. From what they could see, there were legs sporting a purple mini-skirt on his bed. "What?" he asked, irritated. 

"Well, when mom noticed you were gone," Tayumi began, nodding. "She was too engulfed in Takeyo's story to look for you and wrote down a list of things you should eat before you go to bed. Megumi, the list."

Megumi nodded, and brought out a long list of food and their food groups, plus a phone number was scribbled in shimmering emerald gel pen. She slowly handed it to him, and while doing so, touched his hand, smiling. He looked at her oddly, and read the list. "…and?" he asked, scanning over it.

"And-" Tayumi continued. "She wants to know if Izumi's hungry too. She's cooking pasta because she heard from a reliable source-- me-- that Izumi used to live in Italy for 2 years."

"…and?" he asked, crumpling up the list and shoving it into his pocket.

"And-" she continued. "Mom and Dad also wanted to know if you guys were really having sex. She figured that, because the door was locked."

"Mom thinks she knows everything." He told them. They instantly gave him strange looks-- for Megumi, it was more adoring looks-- and tried to peek into the room again. "…that's not what I meant."

"Right."

"…and?"

"And-" Tayumi sighed. "Megumi wants a hug, a kiss and a make-out session."

"Tayumi!" Megumi almost screamed, bringing her hands up to her face just before she began to turn red. She turned away quickly.

"God," Takuya mumbled. "Good night." He said before slamming the door in their faces. They heard the lock go off.

They stared at the door in disbelief. "Good night?!" they chorused, surprised-- for Megumi, it was more angry than anything. 

*****

That's the end of part 5… yay =D Umm… thanks to the people who've reviewed, and thanks to everyone who's _going to review… (hint;hint) _

Tears  
- sunshinie@moonshinehollow.com ß LOOKEE HERE! Just communication!! (Get it? Just communication? Gundam Wing? Two-Mix? Theme song?… ahh…)


	6. Right Place, Wrong Time

Author's Note: I wouldn't really say this is my absolute first Digimon fic, because it's not. I have a strange history with the TV show, both the Japanese and English version. In fact-- I was the biggest fan in the world, and then got hypnotized by a certain movie… and never watched the show again. But, I'm back to grace you with my presence! Don't ya just love me?! (people can be seen fleeing) …I see how you stay…

Unnecessary Disclaimer: I don't know why I even bother with this stuff. I mean, you know I don't own Digimon or anything closely affiliated with it. So why must I bother saying it so many times?

MINOR notes: I'm using the Japanese names. Why? Because I can. I'm also mixing in a few of the 02 characters, for reference and maybe some references to other characters. Why? Because I can. Also, because if I just used plain Frontier people, Izumi would have no friends that were girls. Odd, isn't it? So… I think that's about all you have to know-- OH! This is a Takumi fic, btw. It ends up that way, no matter what you seem to think. It's also slightly AU. They're in high school. I don't know where they live, but I used Odaiba because it was the first thing within reach =) And… I made up Takuya's family for the fun of it.

BTW, the 3 dots-- … --in italics, mean there's a flashback. Just… heed them. Thanks.

It Might Be You  
Chapter 6  
Right Place, Wrong Time

His head was cloudy. He couldn't think straight. Was this an outcome from slight unconsciousness, he thought. He looked around. Everything seemed blurry and out of focus for some reason. This was his bed, but it felt strange. This… was his house, right? 

That's probably what it was. His shirt was off. The window was open. It was breezy. _Wait… when the hell did I take my… shirt off? _He tried to think. But it was useless to try. He sat up. His head was no longer cloudy, now it just hurt. He couldn't remember much from the previous night. It was a shame too-- he might be able to find out what was wrong with him. He could only remember falling asleep very late in the night… good thing today was Saturday. Or was it? He looked off at the clock. It was 7:00. If it was a school day, his mom would be running around the house singing her wake-up song. If it wasn't, at 7:10, she'd just be knocking on his door.

He waited. But as he waited, and as he regained his senses, he noticed someone lying beside him. It was probably Tayumi-- she did that sometimes. But only when there was a thunderstorm and only if Takeyo wasn't home. There was no thunderstorm. Takeyo was home. _…wait a second. …Tayumi doesn't have blonde hair._

Izumi was still asleep. She sighed and pulled more of the comforter over herself, and went back to dozing off. Takuya did happen to notice, however, that she was only wearing a bra… from what he could see.

Which was a lot.

He screamed.

****

"Oh God," he sat up quickly, as the screaming in his head ceased completely. He looked around. He was in his room, and it was morning. He'd just woken up too. _So that was a dream then? _His hand instantly met his shirt, and was even more relieved. Everything was soon beginning to piece together. He dreamt that he and Izumi had been in bed together… how did he _ever_ think of something like that?

He lay back down as slow as ever and tried to close his eyes. It was hard, though. Because he noticed indistinct humming coming from beside him. It was "that bonnie song" as he remembered it. Something about an ocean. 

And then, when he finally regained his senses, he wondered why a strange exotic female voice would be humming him "that bonnie song". _…don't tell me._ He reluctantly and very slowly turned to see Izumi lying beside him, filing her nails. She was humming. Unluckily or luckily for him, she was wearing clothes this time as per his dream. He continued to stare at her for awhile, without speaking. He figured she hadn't noticed he was awake. He also figured he was going crazy, more than usual. Because he began to get strange thoughts about her. Thoughts he'd never actually thought of before. But it scared him. Why didn't he think of her as a bothersome child anymore? Was it because she was more reachable than when she was with Koji? Either that or another reason he thought of in the back of his ingenious mind. He noticed that lately she'd been giving up time with her boyfriend or other friends or family, for that matter, just to be with him… and it bothered him because it was a sudden change from the "can-I-talk-to-you?" persona she always had. It was like she throwing herself at him in any possible way… but why? Maybe this did have something to do with the Bat-2-C… or so he'd like to believe.

"Hm hm hm hm hm the sea… hm hm hm hm hm hm ocean… hm hm hm hm hm to me…" she continued to hum, mercilessly slaughtering the song. "I really should learn lyrics…" she added, reminding herself.

"Yeah, you should," he answered, tiredly.

She jumped a little and turned to look at him, shocked. "…oh, um… hi." She began, slowly. "I didn't know you were awake yet."

"…okay." He began, slowly, sitting up. Neither of them spoke for awhile. Takuya did have an odd idea that maybe Izumi had the same dream as him… _That's not important_, he told himself. 

"Did you sleep okay?" Izumi asked, in a concerned tone. Obviously, that wasn't the first thing Takuya wanted to hear. He looked at her with piercing eyes, but didn't speak. "…well, what?" she asked, not getting it. "It _is _a simple question, you know."

She was right. So why was he freaking out so much? "Hmm," he knew why, of course. "…do you remember anything from yesterday… at all?" Obviously, that wasn't what Izumi was expecting to hear him say. She looked at him with piercing eyes, but didn't speak. "…well, what?" he asked, not getting it. "It doesn't require that much thought… or does it?" he added, hastily.

"It's bothering me," she said, suddenly. "You know, have you gotten the idea lately that I'm probably… just… needing something?"

"…um…"

"Not like that," she sighed. "Like attention or something like that. If you haven't noticed, I'm practically almost throwing myself at you and you wouldn't even know it."

"…no, I pretty much got that." He nodded, matter-of-factly.

"And it doesn't bother you?"

"…well, even if it did, and if I told you to go away… it wouldn't work, so I have no right to complain." He sighed. "Or so I'd like to believe."

"Okay," she nodded. Neither of them spoke for awhile. Basically, just not knowing what to say. It was hard to think of a conversation when you just woke up and someone else is lying beside you and supposedly had been lying beside you for a longer time than you thought…

"You know what _has been bothering me?" Takuya began, very out of context. "I think you probably have this… unnecessary attachment to me just because of Koji."_

"Attachment?" Izumi asked, sort of offended. "Whad'dyou mean? You mean the fact I sorta stayed over at your house because I fell asleep and was too tired to walk back home?"

"That's bullshit-- it was 7 in the evening…"

"…oh shut up." She stated. "You're not angry, you're just faking being angry because you need something to bitch about." She smiled. "I'm used to it, go ahead. I'll sit here for hours and after you're done telling me about how much your life sucks or odd suspicions, then I'll bitch about how much my life sucks and how much I hate "the bastard" and "the bastard's girlfriend"."

"…more than usual?" he asked, deliberately. She scowled at him. 

"I am so sick of talking to you." She said, stubbornly crossing her arms, and turning away from him.

"Really?" he asked, smiling. "I'm sick of talking to you too. You should've told me sooner-- we would've had something in common." Izumi almost screamed.

"Some guys are so annoying," she mumbled. "Or maybe it's just you."

"Yeah, it's just me." He told her, nodding.

"I can't believe I actually slept with you…" she groaned, tiredly. 

"What?!" screams could be heard outside. And cries too, for that matter. Takuya and Izumi looked at the door, a little confused at first. 

"Shh! Megumi, calm down!" Tayumi could be heard hushing her bawling friend.

"…I'm gonna die." Takuya sighed.

******

Megumi sat in Tayumi's pajamas crying and crying. Tayumi was beside her, still in her sleep shirt. Neither of them would bother to tell anyone why Megumi was crying her eyes out. Reiko didn't find it that interesting, but offered to bake Megumi a cake before she left. It appeared Megumi stayed over for the night too.

"I can't believe Izumi Orimoto stayed over at my house overnight!" Tayumi grinned, swinging back and forth in her sleep-shirt on the sofa. She said it quietly, though because Izumi was on her cell phone around a seat away, but they were sure she could hear. "Megumi, this is gonna be the biggest gossip issue ever and I will be the most popular grade 9 student in the history of the _world_!" she squealed, laughing to herself. Takuya looked at her strangely, but said nothing. He continued flipping channels.

Megumi sniffed, and wiped her eyes on a tissue Reiko had given her. "I thought he liked me." She whispered, hoarsely. "I thought we would be together forever… and ever."

"Megumi, just chill." Tayumi sighed. "There will be others… more _in reach_… more _your age…"_

"God, I hate her, I hate her, I hate her!" Megumi mumbled over and over again as she glanced over at Izumi, who was redialing a number on her phone. "She just had to take away my boyfriend…" Tayumi said nothing.

_This day is seriously not going well… _he looked around, noticing Takeyo wasn't there stalking Izumi. _…wonder where he went… _Luckily for him, in the middle of ponder-ment, the doorbell rang at that exact second. Takuya sighed, and got up to get the door. 

Takuya pried open the door, and saw Ken standing there with a soccer ball in his hands. "You forgot." was the first thing that he said.

"Oh crap."

"You forgot the practice. How could you forget the practice?" he asked, twirling the soccer ball in his fingers. 

"I was… um, feeling a bit wrong and I didn't wake up until… really… later." He told him. Ken wasn't buying it. "Seriously, I woke up and I was about to get ready but I saw it was almost… um, 12 or whatever and I stayed home because remember the practices are at 9. Remember?"

"Right," Ken nodded. "Just remember it's not my problem if you miss the practice. Coach is pissed."

"He always is."

"But now he really is." He said. "He thinks you're either too lazy to show up. That's what he first thought. But when we reminded him that you were unconscious for awhile, he started to loosen up. He told me to tell you that if you miss another practice, he doesn't care how unconscious you are, you're off the team."

"That sucks."

"…well, you gotta call first."

"Oh yeah," he sighed.

"Takuya, who's that?" Tayumi called, wandering over with Megumi close behind. She almost screamed. "Ah! It's Ken! And I'm not dressed!" she scurried around the corner and hid by the wall.

"…my sister is… um… a little off." Takuya said, slowly. "…I'll see you guys at the park, though, at 1 or something. …yeah."

"…okay." Ken sighed, edging away from the door. "…by the way, what time did you go to bed? Your eyes are all… screwed up."

He didn't answer for awhile, feeling the truth wasn't needed. Whether she liked it or not, he wasn't really planning on telling anyone about whatever happened with him and Izumi. In his eyes, it never did happen. "…bye Ichijouji." Takuya said, after awhile, before shutting the door in his face and turning back to the TV. On the way, he passed his sister who was telling herself over and over again "I can't believe he saw me in my sleep shirt!". Takuya ignored her.

*****

"Bye, Mrs. Kanbara, thanks a lot," Izumi waved, just as she headed out the door, still grasping her cell phone. Reiko waved back to her, and so did Tenji. Megumi and Tayumi were still talking-- Tayumi paused to wave fervently, though-- and Takuya was gone. He left around 15 minutes beforehand to head to the park. He said he needed to talk to "some people", and that was it. Reiko wouldn't let Izumi leave just yet. She wanted to ask her about her nutrition plan, and if she needed any help picking food substitutions.

Izumi shut the door behind her, and sighed. She should've just listened to Takuya when he said that his parents were a little odd, and going to his house wouldn't be the best idea. Her cell phone began to ring as soon as she reached the elevator. She pressed the button, and then clicked on her phone, "Hey. Who's this?"

"It's Hikari. I told you I was gonna call you back, remember?" she said, factually. 

"So what's going on exactly?" Izumi began, getting in the elevator.

"Something major, obviously. How could you not tell me, your best friend, that you were over at Takuya's house last night?"

"…what?" Izumi's voice fell. She instantly grew cold and felt like she would faint, or just fall over at the most. _How could she know…? "…w-what? What are you… how did you… what?"_

Hikari sighed, "Well, when I was at the park this morning with Daisuke, he told me-"

"Why were you with Daisuke at the park?"

"…when I was at the park this morning with Daisuke," she began, ignoring Izumi's comment, deftly. "He told me, after much persuasion and bribing, that Takuya said he was thinking about you-- a lot. And he didn't know why. Motive number one, if I might add."

"What are you-"

"Shush. And then next," Hikari continued. "One of my friend's cousin's sister's friend's cousin's told her cousin's friend's sister's cousin's friend told me…" she paused to take a quick breath. "…that she saw you and Takuya go up to his apartment later in the night. Plus, Daisuke said that he asked JP who asked Ken who asked Takeru who asked Ryo who asked Koji if he met up with you last night, and Koji told Ryo told Takeru told Ken told JP told Daisuke that he never saw you…" she smiled. "I guess your little plan is working, huh?"

Izumi was shocked. Extremely shocked. All the information was too much. Hikari was still on the line, and asked "Izumi? You still there?" a few times, but Izumi couldn't find the words to say "yeah". "…Hikari," she managed to begin. "…did you say that Takuya was thinking about _me_ yesterday?"

"Sure," she told her as if it was nothing big. "Part of your whole plan, I suppose."

"Hikari, you said we weren't gonna talk about that in the open." She said, just as the elevator landed on the ground floor. She got out and began to pace the lobby. "And did you say that… Koji actually came by to pick me up?"

"Yes, but that's not important, because you're finally getting what you want for the first time in 9 years!" Hikari exclaimed, gladly changing the subject. "And when are you gonna leave the lobby?"

"…what?" Izumi asked, looking around. She stepped a bit towards the door, and spotted Hikari waving to her from outside. "Oh," she shut off her phone and rushed outside of the building.

"About time," she sighed, smiling. "So what's the rest of the plan? I forgot."

"Hikari, I thought you said we weren't gonna bring it up," she said. "I didn't know so many of your friend's cousins were watching me at any second." She told her, looking around, suspiciously.

"Izumi," she sighed. "Stop being so passive. The plan, remember? You thought up the whole thing in 3rd grade-"

"Okay, okay, I remember." She replied, quietly. "Happy?"

Hikari smiled. "So let's talk about it. What stage are we in right now?"

"…well…" Izumi began, thinking. She did remember her plan. She wrote a 30-page book on how to get Takuya to like her. You see, in grade 3, Izumi really liked Takuya. They used to be good friends, even. He didn't mind her that much because she was easy to talk to, and every day they'd get to school and talk about the episode of Megaman that they both watched. Izumi would rather watch Megaman than go shopping with her older cousins or her friends. Takuya said she was different-- basically meaning a guy could talk to her without getting uncomfortable-- and that's when Izumi got the crazy idea that maybe Takuya liked her… she was young. She figured that. So, to the best of her ability, she began to write a book. She thought it'd be half-a-page, but it turned out to be 30. As the years grew, she continued to add more to the book. Stages 1, 2 and 3-- which were basically to eccentrically befriend the brunette-- were already underway. "…probably at stage 4, but I'm not keeping track anymore."

"Cool," she nodded. "Do you really think Takuya likes you? Still? And are you really sure you still like him?"

"I'm starting to think he only liked me because of that episode in Megaman, when-" Izumi stopped instantly, when Hikari looked at her quaintly. "…well, I don't care if he doesn't like me or if he did to begin with."

"And if you don't care, how come you two can't just be friends?"

"Because," she replied. "Because… if we were just friends, something would seem wrong. …haven't you ever read those books and things, where it says there's only one person in the world you're destined to be with, and you wouldn't even know it?"

"…not really-"

"Just think," she continued rambling. "He's a Leo, and I'm a Gemini. Isn't that pure compatibility? I mean-- we shouldn't have problems with each other at all, emotionally. So, he can't hate me, and he might be my… destined-to-be-with person."

"…who?"

"Takuya!"

"Oh…" Hikari nodded. "Okay, but this better not be another lame excuse to add more details into your plan."

"It's not. It's the truth."

****

"It's the truth, Takuya," Daisuke told him again, watching him spin a soccer ball on his fingers. Takuya sighed, and then glanced over at JP who was recovering from missing the soccer ball when he tried to kick it. He was lying on the ground, claiming he pulled a hip bone. Ken was waiting by the goalpost. "Takuya, listen to me."

"I'm listening." He answered, absently.

"I think you're just acting like an ass, because you can. Maybe Izumi's right." Daisuke nodded. Takuya quirked an eyebrow at him, but Daisuke continued. "I think you're just acting all bitchy toward her, because you still have feelings for her."

Takuya looked at him, wide-eyed with shock. He searched his mind for words. Any words. Just to make it seem like what Daisuke said wasn't true… "…that's… so not true." He said, uneasily. "…it isn't. You're just trying to drag this whole Bat-2-C thing on longer than it should've been."

"Please. Remember that Megaman episode-"

"Can we not include Megaman in this discussion?" he asked, tiredly. "_He_ has nothing to do with this."

"So? Neither does-"

"My hip!" JP cried from the soccer frield. Takuya, gratefully, turned to look at him. Daisuke sighed, and stared over at their pain-stricken friend. He was rolling on the grass, claiming to be in pain. Ken was falling asleep by the goalpost, just waiting. "Did someone call the paramedics?!"

"I'm telling you, I'm completely over her," Takuya said, ignoring JP. "I have no feelings for her at all."

"You sure?" 

"Sure."

"Have you ever read those books," Daisuke began, slowly. "They're these books that explain astrological sign compatibility. Things like that."

"And?"

"And," he continued. "They also tell you that the person who you're destined to be with is probably the least expected person. The one person who you probably forget about, or can't stop thinking about. The one person you never knew, or always knew. The one person you might see someday on the street as they pass you by, or… the person at the pizza shop."

"Daisuke-"

"Either way, Takuya, don't overlook this whole Izumi thing." He added, hastily. "You guys were great friends. Always used to talk every single day. She used to ditch shopping just to hang out with you."

"You were there too. Stop making it seem like it's some romantic getaway, because it's not."

"Well, I still think she ditched shopping to hang out with you." He shrugged. "Whether me and Ken were there or not. Remember when you told her that she was different? Someone a guy could talk to?"

"…different…"

_…_

_"And then when he shot the laser, the whole thing went BOOM! and the bad guy died." Izumi giggled, twisting the head of her Megaman action figure. "I wonder if he can do the splits…"_

_"He never shot the laser," Takuya told her, imaginatively. "I thought it was psychic powers."_

_"You think everything was psychic powers, Takuya,"_

_"It's because everything is." He said, smiling. "Duh. When you know as much as I know, you'll understand psychic powers better. Did you know, that psychic powers can be transmitted by touching people's hands?"_

_"What's "transmitted" mean?" _

_"It's like time travel, only through everything else but time."_

_"Oh."_

_"Cool, huh?"_

_"Yeah, but Megaman doesn't touch people's hands," Izumi shook her head. "He zaps them with his laser."_

_"Psychic powers."_

_"Laser."_

_"Psychic powers."_

_"Electromagnetic rays."_

_"What?"_

_"Electromagnetic rays," she nodded, smiling. "Duh. When you know as much as I know, you'll understand electromagnetic rays better." Takuya smiled at her, but said nothing._

_"I got a new Barbie yesterday!" they both looked across the room to a group of girls from their class, sitting in a circle and talking about their new Barbies. One of the girls was brushing her Barbie's hair. Another girl was pretend two of her Barbies were talking. And the rest of them followed suit._

_"Yuck. Barbies." Takuya sighed. "Don't they know those things rot your brain and completely disorder your nervous system?"_

_"…what?" Izumi asked. "How are you learning all these things? Mrs. Takani hasn't taught us those things yet."_

_"My brother is in 8th grade. He talks about them to his friends, and I just listen." He shrugged. He turned to look back at the group of girls. "Some girls are so stupid."_

_"I'm a girl," Izumi said, hardly the least bit offended._

_"So? You're different. You know stuff." He told her, nodding._

_"…different?" Izumi stuttered, for awhile. For some reason unknown to Takuya, she began to grow a light shade of pink. "What… does that mean?"_

_"Different." He repeated. "…you know. …just different, that's all. You're talk-to-able… I dunno." He looked at her, she was holding her face. From what he could see, her cheeks were bright pink now. "…you okay? Did you catch pneumonia or something? My brother said when you get pneumonia, you turn bright pink."_

_Izumi didn't reply. Instead, smiling, she dropped back on the floor, lying perfectly still, hands still clasped on her face. "Cool," Takuya nodded, lying beside her. He clasped his face too, and began to smile just like she was. He had no idea for. He was just good at copying people._

_…_

_Damn him. Damn him all the way to hell. _Takuya thought glancing at Daisuke, who had diverted his attention from Takuya, to JP who had actually called the paramedics. _Why does he always have to be right? …why do I always have to be wrong? Why can't we be equals?! I should've never ever tried to believe differently, than what he said. He was always right, and I… never was. It started out with smaller things that had no significance, and then moved on to bigger things that will haunt me forever…_

_…_

_"It's 3."_

_"No, it's not!"_

_"Yeah, it is, see," Daisuke pointed up to the board where their grade 1 teacher was teaching them first stages in addition. "If you have one crayon, and you get two more from your friend, you'll have 3. Not 4."_

_"What do you know?" Takuya asked, arrogantly. Daisuke scowled at him, but said nothing._

_"Yes, Takuya?" their teacher asked him when he put up his hand. _

_"The answer is… 4," he said, very much confidently._

_"Hmm…" she looked back at the board. "4, you say? …nope, it's something else. You wanna give it another try?" she asked, gently. Takuya glared at her, and crossed his arms, shaking his head._

_Daisuke's hand shot up. The teacher picked him. "The answer is 3," he grinned, as the teacher nodded. "See? I told you…" he smiled,, turning back to Takuya._

_** 6 years later…**_

_"I still think Aya's gonna go with that jerk… you know, the blond guy." Takuya said, snacking away at popcorn. He and Daisuke were over at his house, watching their favorite reality TV show. "What do you think?"_

_"I think she should go with the other guy… you know, Naoshinji or whatever… Aya and Ryo are so incompatible," Daisuke said, finishing off his third bag of chips. "It's like a cow marrying a beaver."_

_"…what the hell?"_

_"You're right. It's gross, and she's not gonna pick him." He nodded. "You got anymore of these?" he asked, waving the empty bag in his face. Takuya pointed over to one of the cabinets, as Daisuke got up. _

_"Come back soon, okay? Aya's gonna pick Ryo after the break." He grinned, confidently._

_Minutes passed and Daisuke came back with the last bag of barbecue chips. He sat down and pried the bag open. He looked over at Takuya who looked incredibly angry, for some reason. Daisuke noticed the show was over. "…what happened?" Daisuke asked._

_"I can't believe she picked that Naoshinji guy." Takuya rambled. "What a loser. They're so… wrong."_

_"I told you." Daisuke smiled, smugly, to himself. Takuya flashed him a ticked off look. Daisuke ignored him, completely._

_"Why are you always right?" Takuya sneered. "What is with you and being right? Can't you be wrong for once?"_

_Daisuke smiled, but said nothing._

_**2 years later…**_

_"I'm going out to pick lottery numbers!" Daisuke's dad called, parading through the house with a notepad. He burst into Daisuke's room where he and Takuya were supposedly studying. He grinned, "I'm going out to pick lottery numbers! I have 12, 14, 35, 44, 58 and 69. I need one more! Any suggestions, boys?"_

_"…pick 72." Takuya shrugged. "It's my 11th lucky number…" he mumbled._

_"No way, pick 81. Skip the 70s. 80s are lucky." Daisuke spoke up, scribbling something on his book. _

_"What the hell?" Takuya asked. "72 is one of the luckiest numbers… I guess." He added. "What's so good about 81?"_

_"Think about it." Daisuke began. "For the past 2 years, the last lottery numbers have always had something to do with the 80s. The last number was always 80, 81, 85 or 87. Last week, it was 80. The week before that, it was 85. Week before that, it was 87. It hasn't been 81 yet this month." He explained. Takuya looked at him strangely. Daisuke just smiled._

_"…so what was that?" Mr. Motomiya asked again, this time slower. He was astonished at his son's knowledge. Honestly, Daisuke never showed that much interest in the lottery._

_"81."_

_"72."_

_"81."_

_"72."_

_"How about we flip a coin?" he asked, quickly before they started flinging things at each other. "Heads-- it's 72. Tails-- it's 81." He fished out a coin from his pocket and flipped it. He placed it flat on his hand and read it, "…heads."_

_"Ha, I told you," Takuya grinned. "72 is a lucky number." _

_"Your loss, dad." Daisuke shrugged, ignoring Takuya's annoying grins._

_"Draw is at 9:15 tonight! I should make it back in time. And if the last number is 72, Takuya, you get exactly 20% of the prize!" Mr. Motomiya winked, just before he headed out of the room. Takuya was still grinning._

_It was soon 9:15. Mr. Motomiya watched the TV intently, Takuya and Daisuke behind him, watching only for Daisuke's dad's sake. The announcer continued, "And the numbers, for the $22 million prize are…" he pulled them randomly out of a spinning crate. "…12 …14…35 …44 …58 …69 and…"_

_Mr. Motomiya was on the edge of his seat. So far, he'd gotten all of his numbers right. Just the last one… "It has to be 72, it has to be 72, it has to be 72…" he told himself over and over again. "We are one number away from being millionaires!"_

_"The last number is…" he pulled out the last slip of paper. "…81!" he announced._

_Takuya and Mr. Motomiya screamed. Daisuke sighed, and shook his head, "What did I tell you?"_

_Takuya stopped screaming if only to glare at him for a moment. Daisuke smiled, and retorted. "I told you…that's what I told you."_

_Takuya said nothing._

_…_

"…damn you." Takuya said, suddenly, breaking away from his flashbacks and memories. Daisuke was oblivious to what was going on. He looked at Takuya, oddly. "…why are you always right?"

"…what?" Daisuke asked, blankly.

"Tell me, because I wanna know… why are you always right?" he asked, slowly.

"…oh." Daisuke smiled, suddenly. "This is about Izumi, isn't it?"

Takuya sighed, and dropped his head in his hands. "Maybe I do need aspirin."

*****

That's the end of chapter 6!! I'm not quite sure if chapter 7 will be the last chapter or not. I'm planning on it to be, but if it's not, then… it's not. By the way, if you've emailed me lately and I haven't replied, it's because my old e-mail address is screwed. I have a new one though. It's listed below and on my profile page, too. Thanks for reading! 

Tears  
- paranoia101@positive-thinking.com (yes, it is a real e-mail address =D)


	7. Hitei

Author's Note: I wouldn't really say this is my absolute first Digimon fic, because it's not. I have a strange history with the TV show, both the Japanese and English version. In fact-- I was the biggest fan in the world, and then got hypnotized by a certain movie… and never watched the show again. But, I'm back to grace you with my presence! Don't ya just love me?! (people can be seen fleeing) …I see how you stay…

Unnecessary Disclaimer: I don't know why I even bother with this stuff. I mean, you know I don't own Digimon or anything closely affiliated with it. So why must I bother saying it so many times?

MINOR notes: I'm using the Japanese names. Why? Because I can. I'm also mixing in a few of the 02 characters, for reference and maybe some references to other characters. Why? Because I can. Also, because if I just used plain Frontier people, Izumi would have no friends that were girls. Odd, isn't it? So… I think that's about all you have to know-- OH! This is a Takumi fic, btw. It ends up that way, no matter what you seem to think. It's also slightly AU. They're in high school. I don't know where they live, but I used Odaiba because it was the first thing within reach =) And… I made up Takuya's family for the fun of it.

BTW, the 3 dots-- … --in italics, mean there's a flashback. Just… heed them. Thanks.

It Might Be You  
Chapter 7  
Hitei 

"Oh my God, so is it really true?" Hirose asked her cousin, fervently. Hirose was Tayumi, Takeyo and Takuya's cousin. She came over every Monday, at exactly 8:00AM. Hirose had a job just a few blocks away from their house, and dropped by to say hi once a week. She was 21, like Takeyo, but took a job with an apprenticeship, without going to university like Takeyo. She sipped on her drink, and looked at Tayumi, who was sitting across from her, anxiously.

"Of course it is!"  Tayumi said, in a hushed type voice. "Everyone knows it's the truth, but it's been a day, and he hasn't even talked about it at all! Mom and Dad are trying to get it out of him, but you know Takuya-"

"Stubborn Takuya," Hirose added. "He knows I'm a gossip freak! Why won't he just tell me?"

"Hold up," Takuya interrupted, setting down his bowl of cereal. Tayumi and Hirose looked at him, as if he just entered the room. In reality, he'd been there the whole time… He looked at them both, oddly, "Hirose, I knew you were a freak, but you never said anything about gossip…"

"Oh shush, Takuya," Hirose smiled, edgily. She moved a bit closer to him on the sofa, Tayumi on the other side, and smiled even more. "…so… you slept with some girl, right?"

"Oh God," he almost choked, and sat up. Hirose was always the prying type. She'd get something out of you, even if you didn't wanna tell her. "Who told you that I slept with some girl?" he asked, eyes almost darting to Tayumi on purpose.

"Some girl?" Hirose repeated, standing up. "I can't believe you'd say that about Izumi Orimoto! You're so… dumb…"

"Tch, yeah, I knew that," Takuya retorted, crossing his arms.

"Takuya, Izumi's dad-- not her stepdad, her real dad-- owns one of the biggest companies in Japan! She would be rich, if her parents didn't get divorced! Izumi's dad always talks about her in his monthly magazines, and that's what made her nearly famous! He never really shows any pictures of her, otherwise she'd be stalked and followed all day. He calls her… Izzi."

"Izzi?" Takuya repeated, finding it hard to believe her.

"Yeah," Hirose nodded. "Just like how I used to call you Takki." She giggled a little, but Takuya stayed unmoved. "I didn't know you guys were still friends." She nodded, changing the subject. "…or are you?" she smiled. "Maybe you're just in it for the-"

"Hirose, I might be a bit sick-minded, but I am definitely not Daisuke," Takuya told her. "…and…"

"And?"

"…and I'm gonna be late for school," he added, hastily. Hirose frowned. Takuya picked up his bag from the sofa and headed towards the door. He obviously knew where this conversation was going. "I'll talk to you later, if you're lucky. Tayumi, you coming?"

"Is Daisuke there?" Tayumi called, shoving the rest of her books into her bag. She flicked open her mirror and checked to see if her hair was okay. She smiled, and then shoved it into her bag again. Takuya didn't answer.

"Tayumi, you really have to accept the fact that-" Takuya pulled open the door and paused. There, standing at his doorway, hand stretched out to where the doorknob would've been… was Koji. Takuya wanted to scream. But he remembered, just at the last second-- _It could be Kouichi. That's right. Koji cut his hair, so now he and his brother look almost identical… okay, they look identical. Isn't there anything distinguishable about them? …wait. Kouichi's face is fatter than Koji's, but only when you compare… I have nothing to compare with. …damn. Takuya couldn't seem to find his words. Koji/Kouichi wasn't speaking either. They both just stared at each other for the longest time. "…uh…" Takuya gulped, uneasily. "…y-you're Kouichi, right?" __Please say yes. Please say yes._

Koji/Kouichi didn't reply right away. He stuttered as well, "Na uh… it's Koji."

"…oh." Takuya muttered. _SHIT!!! He screamed and began to panic. __He's gonna kill me! He's gonna kill me! He's the grim reaper, and he came to kill me! It's Monday, I'm gonna die! I can't die on Monday!! I was born on a Monday! It's bad luck to die on the day you were born!!_

"God-- um… …okay, shut up!" Koji snapped. Takuya shut up instantly. He muttered a very wobbly "okay" and said nothing. "Um… we haven't really ever talked before." He began, slowly. "But there's something really important that I need to talk to you about."

_Talk… talk… _"…okay…" he whispered. Koji looked at him, strangely. "…o-on the… way to school… then?" he mumbled, sniffing a few times. _He has a knife._

"…uh, sure," Koji nodded. 

"…one second- Tayumi!" Takuya called, rushing back into his living room, where she was getting ready to leave. "Tayumi…" he gave her a quick hug. "Hirose…" he gave his cousin a hug too. "I'm probably not gonna come back today…" he mumbled, regrettably.

"What the hell are you talking about, Takuya?" Hirose asked, confused.

"Tell mom and dad I love them a lot," Takuya nodded, ignoring Hirose. "Tell them I'm sorry I couldn't be the son they always wanted me to be… and tell Takeyo he was a really good role model. I always wanted to be like him… Tayumi, you were always my favorite sister…" he sniffed. "And my only sister, but that's not the point. The point is… that I really cared about you a lot. And I don't mind if you get to be Peaches… you deserved it, I guess. I was born at the wrong time. And Hirose… you're still a freak, but that's what I always liked about you." He smiled, and headed back to the doorway. "…have a good day." He nodded, before disappearing past the wall.

The both of them remained quiet.

"…let's go," Takuya muttered, solemnly as he and Koji disappeared down the hall, Takuya-- silently praying to himself.

****

"Daisuke-- you've always been my best friend. Have a good life without me. Love you, man," Takuya clicked off his cell phone. Koji looked at him oddly. 

"Are you done yet?" Koji asked. He and Takuya were in his car, harmlessly driving to school, but he couldn't help but notice Takuya was calling people as if he wasn't gonna be around for more than the ride to school. Takuya nodded, but said nothing. "Okay, well-"

"Is it about Izumi?" Takuya asked, suddenly. Koji looked at him, suspiciously. Well, it looked suspicious to Takuya anyway. He whimpered, helplessly. 

"Yeah, it is," Koji replied, calmly. He couldn't seem to figure out why Takuya was hyperventilating. _It's the hair. Should've kept it long. "Listen, um… see. She hasn't talked to me since that one day… when you got knocked out with the-"_

"I know, I know, just get it over with," Takuya prodded, eyes shut.

"…okay." Koji mumbled, confused. "Well, I really wanted to talk to her, and tell her that I was sorry and everything, but she seems to be avoiding me. A lot. And everyone says that they see her around school nowadays with you, so-" Takuya covered his eyes, bottom lip trembling. "…uh…" Koji continued anyway. "Do you think you could tell her… from me… that I'm really, really sorry and I really want us to be friends again. …are you okay?" he added, noticing Takuya was now curling up in the seat, and sucking his thumb.

"Peachy." He answered, nonchalantly. Koji shrugged but didn't say anything. Takuya waited. He was done talking a long time ago, so why didn't he kill him yet? Takuya opened one eye and looked over at Koji. He wasn't speaking. "…where's the knife?"

"What knife?" Koji asked, absently. "Takuya, what are you talking about?"

"The knife!" Takuya exclaimed. "The knife you're gonna pierce through my head! … you're supposed to kill me-- I slept with your girlfriend!"

"What?" Koji asked, edgily, stepping on the brakes, quickly. Takuya screamed and began to panic even more. _Why did I tell him?! WHY?! Now he's gonna kill me faster! No!! I'm too young to- "You slept with Ruki?"_

"…w-what?" he mumbled, still shielding his eyes. "…Ruki?"

"Yeah."

"…w-what-- no," Takuya stuttered, opening his eyes, slowly. "…I was talking about Izumi."

"Izumi?" Koji asked. "…Takuya, Izumi's not my girlfriend."

"What?" Takuya almost yelled. He was frantic. He almost couldn't believe what Koji was saying. If that's what he was saying… "…so… then…"

"Me and Izumi broke up around 3 months ago…"

*****

"Dude, you okay?" Daisuke asked, noticing Takuya had just sat down between him and Ken. "You left me like 15 of those annoying "I love you" messages…"

"You sent him 15 and you sent me 21?" Ken asked, still deleting messages from his phone. "What do you mean _enjoy the rest of your life without me? What's going on…?"_

"Koji and Izumi broke up 3 months ago…" Takuya said, quickly. Daisuke and Ken looked at him, oddly. Takuya wasn't aware he said anything serious. Until he rethought it over.

"You like her that much that you'd lie about her relationship with Koji?"

"Daisuke, I'm not lying. And it's a really long story, so I don't really think I have the time to explain it." He said, shrugging. 

Ken sighed, "Lunch hour is called lunch hour because it's an hour."

"…okay fine." Takuya sighed. "So, I'm at home right? And my cousin is there with my sister and they're talking about how I slept with Izumi-"

"You slept with Izumi?" Daisuke asked, smiling. "So I was right."

_Always right… damn. _"Anyway," Takuya continued, trying to ignore him. "Then the bell rings. It's Koji. I freak out and think he's gonna kill me or something, but he doesn't want to. He drives me to school and he said he wanted to talk to me. He says that I should tell Izumi something for him, because they don't talk that much anymore. He told me to tell her that he's really sorry and that he still wants to be friends with her. I freak out, and ask him when he's gonna kill me. He asks why. I say-- _it's because I slept with your girlfriend! And then he's like, "Who, Ruki?" And I'm like, "No, Izumi." And then he's like, "Oh, me and Izumi broke up 3 months ago." And then I'm like __Whoa. And he tells me the whole thing-- like how she's been avoiding him, and they don't really talk much. I asked him-- __what the hell's with all the making out on my locker? And he's like "that was my locker" and then he tells me they kept their whole breakup a secret because of the annoying gossip rumors, which was another reason why they had to be seen together a lot. Making out and whatever else, around the school. And then I'm like- "Who are you guys, Jennifer Lopez and all of her husbands?" and he says-- "it was her idea"."_

Daisuke and Ken said nothing. They looked at Takuya, slowly thinking how he could create such a lie. But it seemed real too, when you gathered all possible hints of evidence. 

"…but…" Ken spoke up. "Why would she be lying about everything-"

"-and then say that she's going out with you?" Daisuke added. "I just don't get it."

Takuya sighed, and looked around the field, "Neither do I."

****

…

_"Well, and then I told him, Forget it, if that's all you ever think about. That was the last thing I told him actually. There was much more… um, swearing and yelling involved, but to conclude it, I told him I didn't wanna go home with him and I didn't want him to drop me off at home… I got so angry."_

_"When was that?"_

_"…today."_

_…_

"…lied about everything…" he repeated to himself, absently. He couldn't remember where he was, just that he was still in school. His head was shrouded in thoughts and flashbacks. "Even that too? …that means they never really did have a stupid fight that day… and it was just a big excuse to stay over at the hospital room… so she really did lie to watch me sleep." _How boring. _"…how strange."

_…_

_"Well, what do you want me to say?" he shot back. "I sorta don't have a car. Maybe you could call your boyfriend or whatever to pick you up."_

_"…we got into a fight, re-" she stopped herself, and sighed. "…of course you don't remember. You haven't been listening to me." _

_…_

"Oh God…" Takuya mumbled to himself. All these annoying flashbacks were destroying him. Now he actually knew what was going on, and he wished he didn't. He felt so used. So useless. So- "So Gullible!" he gasped. "Did I actually believe her?" He wanted to believe her. He wanted to believe that she and Koji were in a fight and they weren't talking. He wanted to believe that because he wanted her all for himself…

"Well, you got what you wanted, Takuya," he muttered, turning to grab hold of his lock. "Now pigs fly, and sheep can swim. And there's a million dollars in your shoe." He began to twist it and spell out the combination. It, once again, didn't open. "Not today. Not now." He grumbled, pulling at the lock.

"…uh… excuse me," someone tapped him on the shoulder. He spun around, and stood face to face with Koji. Again. 

"Hey Koji," Takuya said, absently.

"…it's Kouichi." The "Koji" replied. Takuya said nothing. "…don't worry about it. It happened twice today."

"Oh… okay."

Kouichi nodded, slowly. "So… locker won't open, huh?"

"Yeah," Takuya answered, spelling out the combination again. "Don't know what's wrong with it."

"I do," Kouchi said. "It's because it's mine."

Takuya dropped the lock. _Not again… why does the world suck today? "…crap it." He slowly edged away from the locker. "Sorry." He looked at the locker number. __400. "…damn." He sighed, and began walking, as he continued counting. "…401…402…403…404…405…406…"_

_4 minutes later…_

"…489…490…491…492…493-- oh! God… hey," he stopped walking briskly, before he almost bumped into Izumi, who was conveniently standing by his locker. She smiled, weakly, but said nothing. "…problem?" he asked, slowly. She didn't reply. He swung open his locker door and began to search for his books. "…need someone to talk to?" he asked again.

Izumi sighed, arms still crossed. "If you wanna listen." She said, quietly. "The only catch is, you have to listen. It's really important."

"How important?" he asked, turning to look at her. She looked incredibly saddened and depressed. "…fine, I'll listen." He agreed, suddenly.

_Think, Izumi… you're not gonna tell him. Hikari's right-- he'll probably freak out. Okay… _"…you remember…" she began, slowly. "When we were kids… and we used to watch all those cartoon shows every single day and never do our homework? And then we used to go to school the next day, and somehow bribe Ken or Takeru if we could borrow their homework to "check ours over" and then we'd just copy the whole thing?" she smiled. "Those days were fun."

"…what are you getting at?" Takuya asked.

"We used to be friends." Izumi said, suddenly. "Doesn't it bother you that our friendship just went away one day?"

"Ah-" Takuya shut up before he spoke. He didn't wanna say anything stupid, because it did bother him. It bothered him a lot, but he couldn't do anything about it. He thought about what good friends they used to be, but then remembered he didn't know how it all changed… and then he remembered what Koji said. "…Koji says he's sorry. He said he still wants to be friends with you."

"Tell him, I know, and I'm sorry too and I'll stop ignoring him." She explained. "And… wait." She paused, and looked at Takuya with wide-eyes. If he knew that much, he must know everything else… "…what did he tell you?"

"Only everything else that you left out of our conversations," he told her, sharply. It hadn't intended to turn out sharp. But he could do nothing about it anymore. "You lied to me."

Izumi wanted to cry. And then she wanted to hug him. And then she wanted to cry. She wanted to kiss him again, and tell him that she was sorry. She really was. And even though those urges were undying, she had to somehow bring herself to terms to say something. Anything. "…Takuya…" she began, slowly. "...I don't really know what to tell you…"

"It was strange, you know," Takuya sighed, turning back to his locker to pull out his textbooks. "I almost completely believed all that crap Daisuke was telling me." He shut his locker, and clicked the lock on. "See you later, Izumi." He mumbled, before walking away.

Izumi said nothing but a quiet "bye" as he left. She wanted to cry. And she was probably going to. Just not in the middle of the hallway. _I don't care anymore,_ she told herself, leaning against the set of lockers. She looked down and closed her eyes. One single tear slowly weaved its way down her face. And she thought.

_…_

_"Hey, it's Takuya. Call me back, okay?" The answering machine beeped off. Izumi lay on her bed, flipping through her framed pictures. She only framed the pictures that were important to her…_

_Her and Takuya at Takuya's house last summer…_

_A picture of Takuya at the soccer finals…_

_A picture of Megaman… (Truth be told, she did have a crush on Megaman and thought the was pretty cute.)_

_A picture Izumi took of Takuya sleeping…_

_She didn't know why she kept them. They had strange sentimental values to her. She was in 5th grade, and completely in love with her best friend. She didn't know why. She heard those kinds of relationships with friends can ruin your life. But she couldn't help it. She'd always liked him. Since the first day of grade 1, when she was new and didn't know anyone, up to that day. _

_Yesterday. _

_She remembered giving Takuya her purse to hold for a few seconds, while she went somewhere. She'd remembered that in her purse, she kept pictures of her, her family and of him. She'd only remembered when she came back and he gave her the purse back, smiling strangely at her._

_"…TK, what'd you see?" Izumi asked, edgily, taking the purse back from him._

_"Nothin'." He answered, smiling._

_Izumi was scared. What if he saw everything? She flipped open the purse and scanned through all the pictures. Normally, she'd remember to empty out all her pictures of Takuya when she gave it to him to hold, but this time… she forgot. There they were, all 5 of them, all visible in her purse. She felt like she was gonna cry. Instead of crying-- she screamed._

_And she hadn't talked to him since yesterday. He'd called a few thousand times, and left around 35 messages, but she refused to talk to him. She figured he hated her, and was calling just to make sure she knew. She was watching Megaman. She didn't know why. She had no one to talk about it with the next day. She sighed, and changed the channel. It was Sailor Moon. She'd never watched it before. She didn't know why she was watching it now… hey… it actually looked pretty cool._

_"Get the phone! I've talked to that kid enough times today!" Izumi's step-dad called to her mom. Mrs. Orimoto picked up the phone and sighed. They both knew it was Takuya. "Hello?" she asked._

_"Hi, Mrs. Orimoto," Takuya said. "Izumi's still there, right? Can I talk to her? Can you tell her it's really important? Tell her… um… my catfish died."_

_"Okay, one second," she sighed, walking over to Izumi's room. "Izumi, pick up the phone, it's Takuya."_

_"I don't wanna talk to him, he's just gonna yell at me, he doesn't like me anymore." She said, all too quickly. _

_"He says it's important." Mrs. Orimoto nodded. "He says his catfish died."_

_"Tell him, he doesn't have a catfish." Izumi said. "And tell him to stop calling, too."_

_She sighed, and brought the phone to her ear, "Takuya, she says you don't have a catfish. She also wants you to stop calling."_

_"I can't stop calling. I have to ask her an important question about Megaman. Daisuke's not home, Ken's busy and I don't wanna talk to JP." Takuya explained, quickly. "She is watching Megaman, right Mrs. Orimoto? Right?"_

_"Um…" Mrs. Orimoto peered off at Izumi's TV. It was set on Sailor Moon. "…no, she's watching something else. Sailor Moon, I think."_

_"…not watching Megaman?" Takuya almost screamed. It was like their tradition. They always watched Megaman at 5:00 in the afternoon. No matter what. "…wait, she's watching Sailor Moon? What's that?"_

_"Can't you talk to her tomorrow, Takuya?"_

_"Fine, but ask her something real quick, okay?" Takuya asked, before she hung up. "Ask her… if she remembers that girl that keeps hanging around Megaman in episode 10. Tell her they've become really good friends, and that I wanna know what she thinks would happen if she's kidnapped and he doesn't come to rescue her, or whatever. I wanna know what she thinks will happen if they completely stop talking to each other. Can you ask her, please?"_

_"…one second." Mrs. Orimoto sighed. She turned to Izumi, and recited everything that he told her._

_Izumi sighed. "…tell him… that they won't be friends anymore. Now do you mind-- Usagi just found Chibi-Usa…"_

_"She says," Mrs. Orimoto replied, tiredly. "That they won't be friends anymore."_

_"…exactly." Takuya nodded. "Can you tell her that's what I said? And can you tell her that if she doesn't wanna talk to me anymore, I want my life back and all those pictures she still has of me! Bye, Mrs. O," and he hung up._

_Izumi choked. Her mom turned to look at her, "He says-"_

_"I know what he said." Izumi whispered. "My phone's been on the whole time." She pointed to her phone where the button that flashed read "speakerphone ON"._

_…_

Izumi was flooded in tears by then. She couldn't stop crying. She didn't want to stop crying. She wanted the whole world to know that her whole world went crashing down, and she went along with it. As long as they knew, she was happy.

*****

She went right home that day. She told Hikari she had something important she had to do, and then she went straight home. She went into her room, and shut her door. She didn't need any distractions. She just needed to think.

She sat down on her bed, and pried out her purse where she kept everything important to her. She unrolled the picture span and sighed, staring blatantly at the pictures she still had of Takuya. She didn't know whether to smile or whether to cry. Or to do both at the same time. 

It was ironic.

She covered every single basic step into getting Takuya to be hers one day… but she forgot to add one last question in the FAQ section.

"What happens if nothing works and he finds out about everything?"

That was the one question she couldn't answer.

She sighed, and bent over her bed to retrieve something from underneath it. She brought out a crumpled up book, with some pages stapled in. On the front it said, "Strictly Megaman". She smiled. At the time, "strictly" was one of the most important words she knew, so she used it on everything. It was a journal she used to keep-- Takuya had one too. Every day after watching Megaman, she'd go home and write about it and what she thought. She flipped it open and read the first page.

"_Takuya watches Megaman too! I think he'll be my best friend some day! We like the same things. I think he's the only boy I know who likes what I like. I think it's because I don't like Barbies. Megaman's cute!" _She smiled, and flipped the page, reading the next one.

"_I got to go over to Takuya's house today. We watched Megaman together. The space guy blew up and Megaman went back home. Megaman's cute and all, but I wasn't paying attention. I don't know why I have this staring problem whenever Takuya's around. Maybe he has psychic magnetic rays that always draw my eyes close to him, because I can't stop looking at him. I'm going crazy." _She sighed, and flipped the page. It occurred to her, then, that all the entries she wrote in there weren't about Megaman. They were all about Takuya. She flipped to the very last entry and read it. It wasn't that long. It simply stated:

"_I want him back._" And it was true. She did.

*****

So here's the deal… NO! This isn't the last chapter! And YES! I am ever so sorry for stalling.   
I was writing. I was planning on chapter 7 being the last chapter. It was deadly long. It was almost 32 HTML pages long… that was a bit long for my writing style. So I took a few thousand chunks and split those into chapter 8. This is the remainder of chapter 7. Chapter 8 will be out soon, hopefully.

And I refuse to say if it's the last chapter. Right now, everything's a bit looooong… review plz ^^ BTW, the chapter title means "denial"


	8. It Was

Author's Note: I wouldn't really say this is my absolute first Digimon fic, because it's not. I have a strange history with the TV show, both the Japanese and English version. In fact-- I was the biggest fan in the world, and then got hypnotized by a certain movie… and never watched the show again. But, I'm back to grace you with my presence! Don't ya just love me?! (people can be seen fleeing) …I see how you stay…

Unnecessary Disclaimer: I don't know why I even bother with this stuff. I mean, you know I don't own Digimon or anything closely affiliated with it. So why must I bother saying it so many times?

MINOR notes: I'm using the Japanese names. Why? Because I can. I'm also mixing in a few of the 02 characters, for reference and maybe some references to other characters. Why? Because I can. Also, because if I just used plain Frontier people, Izumi would have no friends that were girls. Odd, isn't it? So… I think that's about all you have to know-- OH! This is a Takumi fic, btw. It ends up that way, no matter what you seem to think. It's also slightly AU. They're in high school. I don't know where they live, but I used Odaiba because it was the first thing within reach =) And… I made up Takuya's family for the fun of it.

BTW, the 3 dots-- … --in italics, mean there's a flashback. Just… heed them. Thanks.

It Might Be You  
Chapter 8  
It Was

"Hey big brother," Tayumi walked into Takuya's room, smiling and all dressed up. He was sitting on his bed, scribbling something down that would've been important if it didn't look like chicken scratches. He looked at her, oddly, but didn't say anything. "Wanna know why I look really pretty? More than usual, of course." She smirked to herself.

"I didn't notice." Takuya shrugged. Tayumi crossed her arms and glared at him. "Well, what?" he shot back when she gave him a pissed off look.

"Me, mom, dad and Takeyo are going to see a movie." She nodded. "Dad said you should stay home because you have homework. That's okay with you, right?"

"Let's not ask my opinion," Takuya sighed, continuing to scribble down on the page. "Let's just leave now and not come back before Takuya starts his daily round of bitching at everyone."

"But-"

"Leave." He muttered, waving her off. 

"Ta-"

"Now."

"We'll-bring-you-back-something!" Tayumi blabbered quickly before shutting the door when she left. He sighed and continued to write. He heard the front door shut. They were gone. Finally.

It seemed his "joy" was cut short. Just 10 minutes after they left, someone rang the front doorbell. He sighed, setting down the book. "Interesting 10-minute movie." He began, getting up to head towards the door. "Or maybe they just felt bad about leaving me at home all alone." He told himself, smiling inwardly. If that was the case, he would laugh.

It wasn't. He pulled open the door, and there was Izumi, her eyes skimming through a sort of crumpled book that said "Strictly Megaman" on the cover. He noticed it instantly. "…hey." He said, ever-so-casually. It made her nervous.

"Oh, um… hey," she began, slowly. 

"What happened?" he asked slowly, noticing how shaky she looked.

Izumi thought, _Try not to sound shaky. …why are you shaky!? He's been your best friend for the longest time, and then he wasn't, and… just shut up and don't say anything stupid like "I love you" or whatever. Those are the gayest endings in the world and there's no way in hell I'm gonna let this end like that! _

"Speak. I get nervous around silent people. …can't stand mimes. They freak the living hell out of me…" He said, pushing the door open wider and heading into the living room. She stepped in and shut the door behind her. He turned on the TV and began flipping channels.

"…where is everyone?" she asked, noticing there was no Takeyo stalking her.

"Went to a movie." He said, abruptly skipping the movie channels to get to the kiddie networks. He stopped when she saw some Yu-Gi-Oh! commercial and left the channel alone. Izumi walked in and sat beside him. "What's up with that thing?" he asked, referring to the book.

"Nothing special," she answered, still flipping pages. "Just reviewing all the unnecessarily sappy things I wrote about you." _…did I say that out loud?_

He didn't seem to act like there was anything wrong about saying that she wrote a whole bunch of stuff about _him. "I threw mine away a long time ago." He nodded. "…like last week." She sighed, but said nothing. He continued. "Almost everything in it was about you, and it bothered the hell out of me."_

"Oh really?" she smiled, shutting the book. _Wait a second… why is he acting like everything today never happened? What the hell is going on?! "Takuya," she began, slowly. "…this is completely wrong." She said, turning to look at him._

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked, slightly offended. "At least I never kept my book til now, okay? I had the nerve to throw it away last week."

"Not that, you jackass," she said, crossing her arms. "The whole thing with Koji." He didn't seem to be understanding. He looked at her with a simply blank expression-- somewhat innocent and defiant at the same time. She sighed, and continued, "You know… I _lied_ to you and whatever?"

"…oh." was all he said, incredibly unenthusiastically. "Why do you always drag on things longer than they need to be? It's not important."

"It is _so_ important." She said, equally as stubborn. 

"No, it's not. I almost forgot about it." Takuya nodded, obviously not going to be easily persuaded. "In fact, I bet you there's nothing in the world right now that can make me remember about whatever the hell happened with what's-his-face."

Luck, was however, not on his side. As soon as he said that, ever-so-confidently, might I add, the commercial playing on TV switched off and the program began to run. It was Megaman. Oh, the irony. 

Izumi couldn't believe they still showed it. Takuya flinched, his eyebrows flickering, as he glared at the TV. "_Now back to Megaman NT Warrior!" _

"God---" he groaned, tiredly, reaching for the remote control. "Why are you punishing me like this?" he pressed a few buttons and the TV shut off. He grinned, heading into the kitchen, "Quiet sanctum." 

Izumi picked up the control, and pressed the "ON" button. It didn't switch back on. She set down the control carefully and headed into the kitchen where Takuya had found a bowl of chips and leftover cake in the fridge. "Takuya, the… um, the TV's not turning back on…"

"So? _I_ didn't touch the TV. _I was studying." He said, winking, very believably. "Besides, someone has to fix it, if they ever hope to watch TV again." He shrugged, taking the bowl of chips-- topped with cake pieces-- into the family room to rest in his dad's La-Z-Boy chair._

_Did he just wink at me? _Izumi asked herself, trying hard not to blush. It wasn't working. "You're slowly trying to pry away from the idea that I'm here for something _important_." She said, rather angrily, as she crossed her arms again. 

"Well, maybe I don't wanna talk about it." He said, for once very truthfully. She sighed. "No, think about it, seriously." He added. "Maybe it's just something else that'll make my life more miserable-- this whole talking about this supposed problem …maybe I just wanna forget about it." He popped another chip into his mouth, and reached for the second remote control. The TV wouldn't switch on. _Crap. Should've learned how to use the friggin' remote besides the volume and channel buttons… he set it down slowly as if he'd never touched it._

"Why do you wanna forget about it so much?" she asked, quite testily. He flashed her a quick look, but said nothing. She didn't know whether to take that positively or not, but she continued anyway. "…is it because you thought that maybe my judgment was right? And maybe that whole lying thing could've had a purpose?" _Please get the hint… _

He looked over at her slowly, but she avoided his gaze deftly, and efficiently too. "I figured something like that." He shrugged. "I was wishing that it wouldn't have a purpose. Then maybe I could go on living as if nothing had ever happened."

"Oh grow up, Takuya," she scoffed. "You're so impossible to get through to."

"I don't want to be "got-through" anyway…" he said, slowly to make sure what he said made sense. "And besides, what slight purpose does lying to me about your boyfriend and making me believe that you two were still together while you were busy sleeping with me have, exactly?"

"Why don't you tell me what you felt about it?" she answered, semi-bitterly.

Takuya said nothing.

******

"That part was so cool…" Tayumi gushed to herself, as her and her family-- minus Takuya-- reached their front door. "When he took off his shirt, and everything…" Her fantasies of Iwata Moriama without a shirt slowly turned to Daisuke without a shirt… oh, how she loved her life.

"You should've told us that movie was rated 14A before we got there." Takeyo said, tapping her lightly in the arm. "That way we wouldn't have had to see it with mom and dad… mom's never seen someone that muscular in her _whole_ life. Dad's pissed. You can tell."

"…where's Takuya?" Tenji spoke up, suddenly. The three of them shuddered. "Where the hell is that boy?"

"He's… inside, Tenji… dearest." Reiko said, soothingly. He wasn't buying it.

"Remember? He had tons of homework." Takeyo nodded. "I should've stayed behind too. Just to tutor him and stuff. You know… big brother stuff." He added, hastily. "He said he had to study for a biology test or something-"

As luck would have it, at that second, Izumi pulled open the door before Tenji could even fish out his keys. Her eyes almost looked bloodshot-- as if she was on the brink of tears. She looked like she was about to cry too. She almost bumped into Tenji. "Um… bye, Mr. Kanbara." She said, quickly, before leaving down the hallway.

"…biology, you say?" Tenji asked, turning on Takeyo, leeringly.

They entered the house. Takuya's door was open. It was closed when they left. Tenji found that very suspicious, although Reiko pointed out he wasn't disabled and could open it at will. Although they found him sitting on the La-Z-Boy and snacking away at chips and cake. He wasn't surprised to see them. "Hey. How was the movie?" he asked, as if he really didn't care.

"Izumi was crying. What happened?" Tayumi asked, upset, as if this would ruin her reputation at school.

"Nothing." He answered, simply.

"So she was here, you two were alone, you aren't studying…" Reiko pointed out. "What was going on?" 

Takuya looked at her sincerely. Suddenly, the face of a 16-year-old teenage boy didn't look so sincere. Oh… but he was. "Dearest mother, what ever could you be talking about?" he asked, lightly, popping more chips into his mouth.

"Takuya, cut the crap-- sorry mom and dad for using such words…" Takeyo began, incredibly sternly. Takuya wanted to laugh. His brother was never the forward type, and thought the words "crap", "shit" or "damn" would make him live one day less than all the good people left on the earth. The thing is, there were no more good people left on the earth. 

Takuya shrugged, and popped another chip into his mouth. If his family didn't believe him when he was telling the truth, there was nothing he could do to persuade them. He and Izumi were just talking. And then out of nowhere, she began to get all emotional about it… he couldn't understand why, once he re-through it…

_…_

_Takuya said nothing. There was an eerie silence, because for once, she was refusing to speak too. Her arms were crossed and she was now sitting on the sofa-- the farthest sofa away from him-- starting blankly at the floor. He couldn't think. The heat massage and circle features were active on the La-Z-Boy chair. Ah, the soothing relaxation. It felt good to be a lazy boy._

_"Takuya,"_

_"Huh?" he snapped back to attention. She still looked angry. He figured it would just go away. _

_"Go on, tell me. I wanna know. It would better help with my situation." Izumi replied, still not keeping eye contact with him._

_"I have no idea." He told her, truthfully. That seemed to have struck a nerve with her, because she looked as if she were about to throw something at him. Her eyes began to search for the closest and heaviest object. "Why do you expect me to know these things? I have no idea why all this stuff would have any significance to begin with…" he trailed off slowly. 'Wait'… he thought._

_Izumi stood up, arms still crossed. She looked like she was about to cry. "So maybe there is no way to possibly get through to you. But that's okay, because I don't care anymore-" 'What the hell am I saying?! That's 10 years of strategic planning down the drain!' -- 'I don't care!' -- 'But-' -- 'Shut up!' Why was she arguing with herself? She had no time to think about it. "-…bye Takuya." She said, before rushing to the front door._

_Takuya said nothing. There was a way to possibly get through to him. And it had just been accomplished… he was just too scared to admit it was true. And there could've been a reason that the whole lying thing was significant. He knew. He just didn't want to believe it. The front door shut, disrupting his thoughts. "Wait." He said, noticing there was no one in the house but him. "…crap." He sighed, popping more chips into his mouth. He put the rotation on the chair to "Zone" and rested, just as the door swung open…_

_…_

"…crap." He said, suddenly. Everyone was still staring at him and he hadn't noticed. "…crap." He said again, for different reasons, of course. He pulled the chair back up and put the bowl on the nearby table. He got up, sort of dazed from the extensive massage and headed towards his room. 

"Where are you going?" Takeyo asked, sternly.

"Shut up, Takeyo," Takuya called from his room, just before he shut the door. "No one pick up the phone okay?" he called, again. "…okay?!" he repeated, when no one answered.

"Okay," Reiko replied. "Come back out soon-- all those snacks are probably rotting your brain. …I'll cook some rice." She nodded, before heading into the kitchen.

"This awful situation," Takeyo shook his head. "I'm gonna study." He headed into his room, too.

"I'm gonna play GTA Vice City!" Tayumi snickered, just so Takuya wouldn't hear. She crept into her room, and shut the door, slowly.

"Well, I'm gonna watch-" Tenji picked up the remote and switched on the TV. It didn't work. "…that's odd." He pressed the button again. "…Takuya, did you touch the remote? You know you don't know how to use it properly!" he called. "…Takuya?"

"Please pick up, please pick up…" Takuya mumbled, holding his phone to his ear. The dial tone beeped a few times, and the phone line ringed. No one picked up yet.

Masami, Mrs. Orimoto, picked up the phone at last. She was home by herself since Izumi hadn't come back yet, and Hirotaka, Izumi's step-dad, went off to work. She put the phone to her ear. "Hello? Orimoto residence."

"Hey, Mrs. O," Takuya said, fervently. "Is Izumi home? …she still lives here right? …this is the right number, right?"

"Another boyfriend, huh?" Masami sighed, smiling but shaking her head all the same.

"No… it's me… Takuya." He said, sort of disturbed.

"Oh! Well, whad'dya know?" she giggled to herself. "You sound so grown up… oh dear, you must be so handsome now… you were always a cutie. Izumi used to talk about you all the time, until one day… I figured you moved or something. I hadn't heard of you since. How's the family?"

"They're fine-- is Izumi home?" he asked, rather impatiently.

"Not at the moment. Is-"

"Okay-thanks-bye," he said, all too fast. He clicked off the phone and waited. 1 minute went by… then 2… then 3… then 4. _Perfect. She has to be home by now. He picked up the phone and dialed again._

"Hello? Orimoto residence." Masami spoke again.

"Hey, Mrs. O, is Izumi home?"

"Not ye-"

"Okay-thanks-I'll-call-back-later-bye," he clicked off the phone again, and waited. He'd called 7 times in the last 2 minutes. "Is Izumi home?"

"No! Not yet! Please don't ca-"

"Okay-thanks-see-you-later-bye," he clicked off the phone and waited. Masami felt a major migraine coming on… Takuya clicked on his phone and dialed again. Masami, once again, picked up, "Hey, is Izumi home?"

"No-" Masami stopped herself, just as the front door swung open. Izumi walked in, arms hugged across her sides, eyes lingering across the floor, and plainly looking upset. "Oh, she just got in." _Thank God. "Izumi, dear, someone's on the phone for you."_

"Who is it?" her voice was groggy as she removed her shoes by the entrance, and headed towards Masami.

"It's Takuya, dear."

Izumi flinched and glared at the phone as if it was an evil object. "What?" she snarled.

"Well-"

"Tell him to piss off." She said, angrily, before heading to her room. She didn't shut the door, though.

Masami sighed. _Not again… _"Takuya, dear, um… she said-"

"I heard." Takuya replied, massaging his head slowly. "Tell her I don't want to. And can you tell her its really important… tell her that… um, my catfish died."

"Izumi," Masami called, just as Izumi popped her head through the doorway. "He said he doesn't want to, and he says he really needs to talk to you because… um, his catfish died."

"Tell him he doesn't have a catfish, and tell him he can burn in hell for all I care." She said, before disappearing back into her room.

"Takuya, she said-"

"I heard. Tell her that-"

"One second," Masami sighed. "I am not going to play messenger girl again. This always happens when you two have some strange argument, and I don't want to be a part of it. Hold on for one second." She put down the phone and went into Izumi's room. "Izumi, pick up the phone."

"I don't wanna talk to him." Izumi stated, angrily. She was flipping through a photo album on her bed.

"Well, then stop looking at pictures of him." She said, noticing that all the pictures in her photo album were of Takuya and Izumi. Izumi shut the book instantly.

"Mom, you don't understand." Izumi sighed, now more tired than anything. "He's so impossible to talk to, I feel like I could almost cry…"

"Izumi, no one is impossible. It takes an impossible person to talk to another impossible person." Masami smiled. "And from experience, you are quite impossible. You should talk to him. Maybe it is something really important."

"He can talk but I won't listen. I don't have anything to say to him anymore." Izumi said, trying to convince herself. She didn't believe a word of it.

"Neither do I." Masami sighed. "Please, Izumi…?"

"Mom-"

"Izumi. Pick up the phone. You can't run away from everything forever." She nodded. "Maybe he sees things the same way you do… he just doesn't want to accept his feelings, like you did a long time ago."

Izumi sniffed. She was crying again. Crap. Not now. And she actually wanted to talk to him. Crap. Not today. She had a blank feeling. She didn't know what to call it. She sighed, "How do you know all of this?"

"After years of playing messenger girl, I got the hint." She winked and handed Izumi the cordless phone. She stood up, but before she left, she turned to Izumi and smiled, "He must be quite handsome now, huh?"

"Mom, can we not discuss this while the phone is on?" Izumi said. Masami noticed a slight smile on her face as she left. She put the phone to her ear and sighed. "Can't I talk to you later? I know it's important, but then again, everything's important when you see it from my view."

"What are you talking about?" he asked, quite confused. "Listen, Izumi-"

"I'll see you tomorrow at school. I promise…" she muttered, weakly. "Bye, Takuya… again."

"…yeah, okay-"

"And please don't call back at 2 in the morning…"

"It's tempting."

Izumi sighed, and clicked off her phone. She set it on her dresser, and lay back on her bed.

Takuya sighed, and threw his phone halfway across the room. "Why does nothing ever go right for me?"

"Maybe she's right, you know," someone spoke from outside his door. He sat up and stared at the door, but they refused to open it. Sooner or later, the door creaked open and Tayumi walked in, with a concerned face.

Takuya sighed and lay back down, "What do you want?"

"To give you advice." Tayumi said. "I know you and Izumi aren't necessarily seeing eye to eye on anything anymore. Most of which is caused by your asshole-itis-"

"Hey…"

"It's true, Takuya."

"You're only helping me because you don't want your frickin' popularity rate to go down." Takuya sighed, reluctantly. "Just go away. I'm not a mental patient, okay?"

"Takuya, I may be your younger sister, but I do know a lot of things you don't." Tayumi nodded. "You wanna know why nothing goes right for you? I'll tell you why. You don't want it to go right. Yep, it's the truth." Takuya was now looking at his sister as if she was slightly mad. "Think about it Takuya. You expect everything to go wrong because it's common in your life. It always has been, you complete ray of pure negativity."

Takuya said nothing.

"You're afraid to tell Izumi the truth, aren't you?"

Takuya said nothing.

"You're afraid that maybe she doesn't feel the same way. You're afraid that maybe things won't work out how you wanted them to… you're just afraid…"

Takuya said nothing.

"You don't want to tell her anything. Maybe you can go on living normally, and everything can go wrong. Then at least you'll feel-- believe it or not-- secure. Yeah, you'll feel great when things go wrong because it's normal for you, anyway." She continued rambling. "In fact, the only thing that could go right is the whole relationship with Izumi… that's why you don't wanna tell her. You want your life to be all "wrong". As soon as it's "right", then everything's changed… everything will change, won't it? You'll become more open-minded, more truthful, more significant… or is that what you're afraid of?"

Takuya said nothing.

"You're probably afraid of being important too. You don't wanna be important in someone's life, because it's too much work. Being thought of everyday, being recognized somehow, being with other people that care about who you are… but the thing is, dearest brother… you're afraid to admit that's what happens everyday."

Takuya said nothing.

"You think mom and dad don't care about you?… of course they do. They were totally crazy at the theatre. They don't like the thought of you being alone. And, sure, they don't show it sometimes-- but they love you. A lot… they might seem to care a lot that Takeyo's the top in his class, and I'm a killer writer and artist-" she smiled for a moment, and then continued. "-sure, Mom acts like she doesn't like the whole soccer thing. Sure, she's always complaining that you'll get hurt. But it's all because she cares about you. She never wakes us up at 12 in the night because we skipped dinner. They had a son who's a math whiz, a daughter who does nothing but write and draw all day. Neither of us like sports that much. And then there's you, who's more active than both of us put together… she worries about you. She wants to make sure you're not hurt or anything. It's not like they have experience with incredibly active kids and whatnot. …haven't you ever thought about those things?"

Takuya said nothing.

" And-"

"Tayumi." He began, slowly. He didn't speak for awhile, but neither did she. There was a long silence. His eyes shifted comfortably around the room, but hers were in a panic. She had so much more she wanted to say… before she could open her mouth again, he did. "Thanks." was all he said.

*****

The phone rang. Izumi's eyes slowly and reluctantly opened. She groaned, when she saw it was her phone that was ringing. All the other phones were silent. Her mom probably knew this would happen. Izumi's eyes shifted to the clock by her dresser. It was 2 in the morning. She wanted to scream.

She picked up the phone and restlessly put it to her ear, "I wonder who could be calling me at 2 in the morning… _Takuya…"_

"I can't sleep, and I really needed to talk to you." He said, quietly. "You don't mind do you?"

"Takuya, I wanna sleep, I'm tired-"

"Meet me downstairs, okay?"

"…downstairs where?" she repeated, slowly. "Where are you?"

"Downstairs."

"Downstairs where?"

"In your apartment building."

"So you couldn't sleep, and you walked all the way over here to tell me something? How important is it?"

"Pretty important."

"So it can't wait till tomorrow?"

"See you downstairs." He clicked off his phone.

Izumi groaned, and shut hers off too. She didn't think she could get out of bed. Her joints and limbs had just collapsed. Better yet, they were probably asleep too. She slipped into a pair of pants and wore a zip-up fleece jacket. She crept out of bed and into the hallway, just past her parent's room. As she reached for the doorknob, her mom called out to her, "Come back before 3!" and it was silent.

_Why is Takuya so predictable? _She asked herself as she headed downstairs, and out through the front doors of the building. He was standing by one of the trees by the front steps, with his back turned. She walked up beside him well unnoticed. "What was so important that you couldn't tell me it tomorrow?"

He turned to her slowly, but didn't speak. "…well…"

"Are you sure it's that important? I'm tired."

"I am too, just… shut up for a second, I have to think." He told her quickly. His eyes shifted nervously around the ground, and she stayed completely silent. Suddenly, as if without thinking, he turned to her and wrapped his arms around her in a soft, gentle hug. She didn't move. Her face was turning red fast. But she liked it.

"Izumi, I'm really, really sorry," he told her. "…for believing you when you told me the whole… lying thing could be important. I just didn't wanna believe you. And you were right about everything… like everyone else was. And I was wrong about everything… like I always was. And-"

"Shut up," she said, suddenly. "…thank you for getting my point. I'm happy you finally understand. …remember that time that you told me that you liked Chiharu? It was in grade 4, remember?"

"…oh yeah."

"And you told me to ask her if she liked you? And then I yelled at you, and I slapped you, and I told you to go to hell?"

"…yeah."

"I always wanted you for myself." She told him, solemnly. "She did like you, and she asked me to ask you if you liked her… I told her that you hated her guts and that you thought she was really ugly."

Takuya said nothing.

"I'm sorry. I know you really liked her too."

"That's okay." He said, rather reluctantly.

"Is there anything else you wanted to tell me?" she asked.

"…n-no, not really." He said, rather shakily.

"So can you let go of me now?" she asked.

"…y-yeah, fine." he answered, letting go of her quickly, and steering his eyes away from hers as fast as humanly possible. She noticed, and crossed her arms. "I'm gonna start heading home now-"

"I really care about you, Takuya," she said, smiling. "…_a lot_."

"Oh…'kay…" he muttered, desperately trying to not understand her. _Is she trying to tell me something that I don't wanna hear, because if that's the case, I don't wanna hear it._ "…I really care about you too, Izumi… _a lot_." _You idiot. I bet you don't even know what that means! She's trying to tell you that she really likes you! Maybe that soccer ball did knock out all your thinking skills!_

"Really?" she asked, as if she was awe-struck. He didn't take it as such a big shock. She didn't say anything else as Takuya nodded, slowly. Instead, she jumped on him, kissed him on the cheek and hugged him tightly. _So 10 years of planning did work. I am so good at this. _"Thank you." She got off him, and smiled. "Can I see you tomorrow then? And we can talk… about… Megaman and stuff."

He smiled, nodding. "Fine." he answered, just as she waved and headed up the stairs to the apartment. Takuya began to walk back the way he came, feeling exceptionally good about himself… for once.

"Hey!" Takuya flipped around instantly, and saw Daisuke standing across the street. He twitched. It was 2 in the morning-- what was this idiot doing outside? _Wait a second… never mind. _

"Daisuke? What are you doing here?" he called back to him.

"You and Izumi make a great couple, man!" he called back, winking. Takuya sighed.

"You saw everything?"

"I was right!" he said, ignoring what Takuya was saying. Takuya stood and thought for awhile, as Daisuke danced across the street yelling "I was right!" "I was right!" Daisuke screamed again.

"You always were!" Takuya yelled back to him. "Damn you!"

Daisuke laughed, and continued dancing around. He was right, he was right…

******

Well, that's the end of the story! =D Suteki da ne?! I have butterflies… hardest chapter to write, just because I'm not good at emotional stuff. Well, I am, but I have visions… I see dead people… no, kidding =D I have visions, like I dream up what's gonna happen and I write it down. If I don't, then I forget. I have to write down every single detail otherwise I'll screw myself over. It's a strange… phenomenon… anyhow. Review if you liked it, and thanks to everyone who read the story! =D

- Tears  
paranoia101@positive-thinking.com 


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